“Little things seem nothing, but they give peace, like those meadow flowers which individually seem odourless but all together perfume the air.” -Georges Bernanos
Beauty is defined in many different ways. It has varied throughout time, various cultures and can be described through pictures or concepts that penetrate in our minds. Beauty is a trait that is often misunderstood and is sought by society, rather than us looking beyond what we see. Georges Bernanos meaning behind this quote is, we often don’t see the beauty and the meaning behind the little things although everything in our world has meaning and is connected. Let's take a look at the short story “The Shining Houses” by Alice Munro. Mrs Fullerton, an old lady who has lived in an old farmhouse for 50 years is being disturbed by her selfish neighbors whose only goal is to modernize and better the community. In the end Mary defends Mrs Fullerton’s right to keep the house standing after attentively listening to Mrs Fullerton’s experiences that lie under this roof. The rundown old farmhouse’s sole purpose is not to stand high and scare away those in the community, but it is there for its valuable history and the experiences that tie together seamlessly into a blanket of Mrs Fullerton's version of beauty. Similarly, in the short story “The Large Aunt” by Hallie Gallaher, Mr Morgan learns a valuable lesson. He learns the aunt he discovered represents something more than a horrendous terrifying looking creature. Once it was dissected in the museum, the aunts tiny instruments as well as its various compartments that shape the insect, represents something beautiful and exceptionally fascinating. Unfortunately, we as humans don’t take the time to realize this. That the “little things” we observe in our world don't portray beautiful qualities but really what they signify and the moments they create is where the real beauty comes from.
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Personally I believe that humans don’t have an innate, viciously competitive nature encoded into their DNA from birth, but rather these traits are developed into us from the environment we are surrounded with. In science, scientists look at animals that are genetically close to humans, for instance chimps. Chimps offer crucial evidence that violence is not part of our biology or in our DNA. One species of chimps, the bonobos, create a peaceful community or in other words spread 'love not war.' The bonobos are unlike other chimps, who are fairly aggressive in their communities. In addition, if we look at the media, video games and movies, are abundantly violence around us. Many children are so drawn to violent games or visual media that they may turn into violent people in the real world. Do you really think a baby born who is surrounded in a world where there is no poverty, everyone's needs are met and no exposure to violent media and games would grow up to display violent behaviors? We are always in control, we make our own decisions, our thoughts, actions and reactions are what make up our reality. Anger, aggression and all those similar traits are all from our ego or our minds. Therefore, yes violence and anger can be presented within ourselves but it's still our choice.
I believe Bradbury and Asimov comments to mankind and today’s society are important for people to be aware of. Their vision and imagination revolves around the generation of aspiring technologies. Their stories and comments seem to be unrealistic however the main focus is the fear about a future where technology hinder us more than helping. Ray Bradbury’s short story called “The Pedestrian” portrays this notion. Throughout the story he describes people living in a technological world to the point where there is no civilization left in the outside world. While all of mankind are hiding in their houses away from the rest of the world. Through this story we learn technology plays a huge impact in our lives and not to take it too far in the future. Similarly, Asimov’s short story “The Fun They Had” also predicts what the future would be like from the advancement of technology or specifically computers. In this story Asimov describes how schools could be in two hundred years, where children learn from machine teachers at home, in comparison to schools in the twentieth century, where students had books and a human teacher to learn from. Asimov warns us about the major role computers and other technology have in our lives and how schools should not be these non desirable schools. Perhaps both authors warn us not let the world go this way because if the future was like how they imagined it to be social life will be neglected more and more. I think that it’s very important to think about our future and both authors are trying to warn us about the huge role technology has in our lives and to stop it from overtaking our lives.
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