LM Assignment 3

In the last section of the book Reece describes Wendell Berry's essay " Two Minds" Here Wendell talks about how there are two ways of thinking about nature and its resources. There is as "rational" mind which only intends to use nature to make gains. It's objective and analytical based and believes there is an individual profit to be made. Then, the other is a "sympathetic" mind which favors nature's organ wild side. This kind of mind set favors wholeness, a sustained long term source of resources. They don't believe in making a profit off the earth, just use enough to survive. One example of a rational mind set is the main focus of this entire book. The coal mines have no respect for the mountains that they are destroying, or the ecosystems that inhabit the mountains. They just want to make a profit, strip the mountain of its resources and move onto the next stripping site. Then, an example of a sympathetic mind set is when Robert Kennedy visited eastern Kentucky. During that time he saw how poor people were, and that for some all they had to eat was their gardens, and farm animals they had. They did all they could to get what they needed to survive from the land, and all the while putting effort back into keeping it healthy and fertile. This was all inhibited by the coal mines destroying the land that they used to survive off of, making them even poorer and hard off.

The quote choose is the following:

"Love the quick profit, the annual raise,

vacation with pay. Want more

of everything ready-made. Be afraid

to know your neighbors and to die.

And you will have a window in your head.

Not even your future will be a mystery

anymore. Your mind will be punched in a card

and shut away in a little drawer.

When they want you to buy something

they will call you. When they want you

to die for profit they will let you know."

(pg 223-224)

This quote stuck out the most to me mostly because I think is sums up everything the coal companies are wanting. They want the profit, the money and vacations. All the while not caring about the little people who make that all possible, and who's lives they are destroying. The little people work til they bleed knowing that's all they will do all their lives, hence why their future will not be a mystery. Then, the last really hits on the fact that the coal companies don't care about the workers, they just want to boss them around and make a profit off of them. Also, this quote hit me because I feel this relates to many things today. Most notably being the war in Iraq. Everyone knows that the "war" is little more than a war for oil and world economy. I personally feel the US government is playing the same cards that the coal companies did. There is little to no reason for our troops to be over there dying (they are soldiers if you send them there let them fight, not play baby sitter). But, that is a topic I could spend days on, just wanted to make that connection.