I found that the book Zeitoun by Dave Eggers was a compelling story about a tragedy which was particularly interesting because of it’s relevance still today in New Orleans. The book tells a wonderful story of a man with an interesting past who puts his life on the line to save others, only to receive less than adequate treatment in return. His life takes a dramatic turn when he is imprisoned and unable to call his family. Reading the book I came to realize that a tragedy like such not only brings people together, but also solidifies certain divides within families. My intentions were for this blog post to discuss the divides tragedy creates in society, but my mind was changed when I looked up Zeitoun and his family on google.

Many articles I found discussed how he was falsely portrayed in the book as a hero as he faced charges for abusing his wife. Was his idealized character falsely portrayed? As I have been focussing on defining a hero this semester, from my research I still consider Zeitoun a hero for the help he offered others during hurricane Katrina. For this reason, finding out about his family situation after reading the book about such a seemingly beautiful family was upsetting. Although some content online has surfaced where his wife Kathy discusses that their relationship was not ideal before the hurricane, but from what I understand, the abuse was worsened after.

Assuming that their family situation went downhill after the event it led me to think about trauma-bonding, as we have focussed on earlier in this course. Reflecting on this book led me to consider when trauma leads to individuals feeling unbound rather than bonding over the trauma. Hurricane Katrina had a profound impact on peoples lives, seeing that a man who acted so heroically during the event became so complicated and secluded after. Rather than using the trauma to become closer, as Oskar and his mother did at the end of Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, the event causes Zeitoun to seclude himself.

It seems to me that when families face traumas they commonly deal with it one of two ways; they allow the event to bring them closer together or it pulls them apart. I think the outcome is dependant on the deep-rooted health of the family. Regardless of the situation the family was in when the trauma occurred, if they have a solid “base” of love, carefulness and understanding, then that will make all the difference. I have seen both outcomes take place in family friends. A good friend lost a member of her family in a traumatic accident, from the outside looking in, the family was clearly deeply hurt. Rather than dealing with the hurt as individuals, each family member helped the others out leaving everyone with someone to lean on. This created a beautiful bond which can never be taken away from them as they positively used the trauma to bring them together. On the other hand, I watched a beautiful family deal with the heartbreaking event of a chronic disease. The family was told their young daughter would not have a chance at a normal life and likely only live for a few more years. The young girl lost the ability to move and speak, but her beautiful smile kept the family motivated. Having a chronic illness brought her family together as they worked to care for her. The long awaited day finally came when their daughter was no longer able to breathe on her own. Despite the closeness of the family throughout the trauma, when they were finally able to step out of “survivor mode”, they did not know how to live happily and the family fell apart.

Trauma is a complicated topic which impacts everyone very differently. Reading Zeitoun and comparing it to other texts we have read throughout the semester solidified for me the varying level of what trauma can do to families. On one hand, it has potential to bring people together, but on the other it has the potential to bring others apart. Finding out the story about Zeitoun and Kathy’s relationship ending betrayed how he was portrayed in the book, but his heroic acts should not go unnoticed.

Alana Redka

I have spent today scanning through my notes from recent classes looking for inspiration for this blog post. Recent discussions have been surrounding the preparation for our upcoming paper, formulas for success, and the structure of the poetry we have recently read. I found that none of these topics inspired an insightful blog post, so I began thinking of how these topics related to my other classes. Again, I drew a blank. Until I reviewed the page in my notes about lenses; I needed to look at these topics through a different academic lens.

Suddenly, all of the topics I had been looking at in my books related perfectly to all of my other classes, and much of my previous education also. I read a line in my notes about the second poem we looked at being a “process poem”. Process. The word suddenly stuck out to me as I shifted to a more general lens, not in the context of poetry, but considering the education system as a whole. My entire educational career has been a process. Each year preparing me for the next. I grew up with a mother as a teacher, constantly preparing me for my first days of school at the young age of 3. There they taught me everything I would need to know for when I began full-day classes in grade one. This continued until grade 5-7, when we learned cursive (which they assured us we would need to know because “everything in high school would need to be written in cursive”— yet I never used it once). My entire grade eight year, my teacher constantly made reference to how he was preparing us for high school: “I am being hard on you because this is how your high school teachers will be”, “This will be vital when you start high school”, “Remember this, you will absolutely need this knowledge for high school.”. I remember my friends and I questioning why they spent so much time preparing us for the next stage of life rather than enjoying this one. The great thing was that we weren’t in high school yet, yet the amount they talked about it made my fears of the next stage worse than it would ever be.

Grades 9-12 they were always telling us, everything you learn in this building is to prepare you for your post-secondary education. Again arose an obsession with the future. MLA and APA were a major focus, making it seem impossible to get a bibliography or work cited page completely perfect. Although, the things my grade 8 teacher had so courteously warned us about did not seem to be relevant. Cursive was a joke as everything we did was on computers.

Now here we all are, in University. The time we have been preparing for since we began grade school. I thought this was the end of the long process, but I have recently discovered it is just the beginning. All of this information we have been given must be put to use in deciding what we will study to practice for the rest of our lives. The process of acquiring prerequisites to get into our desired schools was completed, but the process of picking a major, minor, and a career path has just begun. It will never end, but it will always develop.

I was once told that most of the jobs my classmates and I would work in the future have not yet been created. The companies and products we will devote our lives to are not yet in action. This thought changes the lens with which I look at this “process” of education. It is not a destination, there is no end. It is an evolution of self and global development. After arriving at this thought, I shifted my lens to consider what this meant for us as global citizens. The entire process of my education has shaped me into a functional member of society. I have been taught ethics, responsibility, and essentially how to merge with the current state of society. As I talk to employers and employees in the field I plan to one day work in, I have learned that my education will never stop. As science and medicine develop, so will my line of work. There will be more we can do for patients so each year we will be required to attend courses to update our knowledge. Although education will not stop, a new process will begin, to act as a global citizen and use our education as an opportunity to give back to society.

I realize this is a big jump from what was in my notes. Although, I would like to note what I learned as I planned and wrote this blog post. When beginning to write my paper, I struggled with lenses. I failed to see the importance it had and the impact it could have on my paper. Thinking with a “lens” allowed me to see something in my notes that wasn’t there. It inspired thought and creativity. My rough notes for my essay were lacking in many departments. My lens was weak and I had a hard time understanding what my essay needed. Writing this post assisted with my understanding of the value of the lens in my essay. It completely changes the context and direction which I can take my topic, which are essentially endless when I consider the various lenses which I have access to. All in all, lenses are much more valuable than I originally thought.

Alana Redka

The word hero is a very complicated term for me. It gets passed around with ease throughout daily life for varying reasons. Some deserving, but many not. The Oxford Dictionary defines hero as, “A person, typically a man, who is admired or idealized for courage, outstanding achievements, or noble qualities.” Courage, outstanding achievements, or noble qualities. Just the other day I returned a lost student card to a girl on campus and out of excitement she said, “oh my goodness, you are my hero”. I seem to have missed what part of returning a simple lost card was courageous, outstanding or noble.. It’s a complicated thing, to define what makes a hero, because it is different for everyone. In this case, this is my blog, so I will enlighten you about how I define a hero. As humans, it is our primary goal to live and sustain life as long as possible. To me, a hero is someone who selflessly helps another individual sustain life, regardless of the means. In spite of our individuality, at the end of the day we are all humans with one common instinct to survive. When put to the test, we can often handle more than we ever expected of ourselves, but it is not always for others when they are the ones in danger and we have a chance to save them. I grew up with a father who was a firefighter, every saturday I would beg him to tell me about his job and he would humbly tell me stories of the people he and his team had saved from dangerous situations. He was a hero, a man who saved people he had never even met before and did not expect any kind of special recognition. This adds to what a hero is; a hero is someone who selflessly saves lives and remains humble.

My definition of a hero was shaken a year ago when I was put in a situation with a helpless person. I stared at them as their lips turned blue and knew I had to do something while wondering why it was me there and not someone more qualified. Thinking of the individual and their family I began doing CPR, but by the time emergency services arrived there was no hope for the individual. I felt incredibly defeated and tried my best to avoid eye contact with the family and friends of the victim. A man slowly walked up to me, knowing what I had done, and introduced himself as “the best friend”. Unexpectedly, he embraced me and quietly told me I was his hero. As I pulled away, I looked him in the eye for the first time and I told him, “I am no hero. Hero’s save lives, and I was not able to do that.”, to which he replied, “No, hero’s give people their best chance at survival. Because of you we can know that my friend had the best chance at survival possible, which gives me incredible peace. He was given a chance. Thank you for being my hero.” So again my definition of a hero was changed slightly; a hero is someone who selflessly gives another their best chance at living and remains humble.

As we analyze 9/11 through the book Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close  by Jonathan Foer, the concept of hero’s and victim’s comes up various times. Of course, the people within the building are presented as victims and the emergency services as the hero’s.

This becomes apparent almost any time the topic of 9/11 is brought up. Although, the book presents another potential hero, “The Falling Man”. He is brought up various times throughout the book and idolized by the young protagonist, Oskar. His noble quality was his ability to not allow the terrorists to take his life in a fiery hell, but rather he took matters into his own hands. Branching out from the September event, the book has another hero; Oskar. Throughout the book he is looking for something to save him, to give him answers, but at the end of the book he does that for another person. By searching for owner of the key, he is an incredible blessing to the life of Mr. Black, even though the search didn’t end as Oskar had planned. His actions became selfless as he turned over the key, his connection to his father, to another man so that he could instead somehow reconcile with his dead father. His life had been slowly unraveling, but Oskar helped him reverse that with his childish charm and open mind. To Mr. Black, who had given up on finding the key, Oskar had attained heroic status. This book made me, again, reconsider how I define a hero; a hero is someone who selflessly gives another their best chance at living, or improves the way of life of another and yet remains humble.

It seems that the more I see and experience, the more my definition of a hero continues to develop. Still, I believe it is a term that is spoken much too often. For many, it has lost meaning and the full depth behind the word has been forgotten. I challenge you not to forget. Take some time out of your day to marvel in the wonder of the word. Hero is not a term to be used lightly, it is not a term to describe a fictional character who runs around in tights saving other fictional characters, it is not Enrique Iglesias whispering in your ear. Instead, think about the people you know who have made your life better, who are humble, who are courageous, who are selfless. Create your own definition of a hero, and if you are ever lucky enough to get the chance, be that person for someone else.

Alana

When spending time with the Kogawa Fonds, my primary focus landed on what readers and editors had said about the book, Obasan. The book discusses her personal experience of the treatment of Japanese-Canadians during World War II in attempt to keep the history alive. Personally, I felt that the topic book was interesting, but her writing style did not fulfil the distinction and stature of the topic. 

The success of the book suggests that her endeavour to keep the story of the unfair behaviour toward Japanese-Canadians circulating. There is no denying that this book successfully gives most readers an eye-opening look at the standard of living this people group was forced to endure. In a letter from a fan, Henry David Thoreau was quoted to explain to Kogawa that she had “built where no one had built before”. This is an unfortunate truth. Although the topic has seen some media attention, it has not received merely as much as it deserves. I, personally, had never heard of it before and I have lived in Canada my whole life. Unlike the Holocaust, where Canada is seen as a hero, this shameful event is not included in many school curriculum’s. It seems as though our nations leaders want this event forgotten. Unfortunately that leaves it to us to keep these memories alive. 

Canada is a fortunate country. Blessed with resources and a stable government, but as mentioned in a letter from David Holdaway, “…fear drove otherwise rational governments to do irrational acts”. Canada not only dropped the ball by acting irrationally towards the Japanese-Canadians, but they also did not handle the situation with the honour and integrity the world is used to seeing from them as a nation. A public apology was not issued within adequate time, and the event was concealed as much as possible in the years following. History is often said to be taught to prevent mankind from making the same mistakes again, but that is not the case in this circumstance. The mishap is not receiving rightful treatment. In a letter from a publisher who chose not to print Obasan, Ted Whittaker stated, “Canada is a righteous country. This book refuses that righteousness, telling with quiet rage what Canadians can to do each other, and have done.”

Canada has a reputation as a “middle-man” country. It’s new “multicultural” status currently serves it well. Always making decisions which are not too dramatic to avoid upsetting as many people groups as possible. Radical decisions are not it’s specialty and more often than not, it is the positive actions that have been made which are taught in school and promoted in media. Ideally, I like to say that this is unfair. History should be presented as blank and white as possible. Allowing everyone equal access to the facts. The following is merely one, very patriotic, way to look at what Canada has done in the past. Personally, I like the reputation Canada has created for itself by selectively choosing which aspects of it’s history to make known. Having a good reputation in the past drives us as a nation to maintain this character in the future. I understand this can be unfair to the people who endured the hardships of the event and why they would want it to be made known, but my selfish pride takes over. This may be insensitive to say, but I understand why Canada chooses to hide this event in the shackles of the past. 

From the time I began high-school until now I have been hearing many arguments about human nature. Are humans inherently good, or inherently bad? It seems to me that it has been an ongoing discussion throughout history. It appears in old writing, such as most of Shakespeare’s writings, but also in modern children’s books. It has been discussed throughout the ages, yet no one appears to have come to a definitive answer to the question. What seems like a simple question becomes complicated as one looks at the complex dynamics it encompasses.

To begin, a major complication is the individuality of each person. No two people are the same and neither are their motives behind their actions. Two individuals can have the exact same upbringing with the same opportunities throughout life, yet one might end up a pastor of a church and the other in jail. How could this be? There is no black and white answer, maybe one individual was impacted differently by a particular situation causing the direction of their life to be altered from that point on. Maybe we should consider that some individuals can be inherently good, while others bad. There is no uniform trait, it is entirely dependent on the individual.

Next, regardless of how bad a person is, they didn’t start out that way and throughout their life they have done things that emanate goodness. A textbook example of this could be Adolf Hitler. Clearly, at one point, he was an innocent child. When looking at his life and political career in out political science class, it becomes clear that his bad behaviour develops throughout his time. He found a cause which he believed in, and allowed the end he desired to justify the means of achieving this end. Somewhere along the line, he lost sight of Jewish people as human beings. He made a decision for himself to be bad.

In Marjane Satrapi’s graphic novel, Persepolis, we see a young girl who battles with a decision of being good or bad. It is fascinating to watch her flip back and forth as she learns how to deal with the events taking place around her. At times, when she is less informed as to what is going on, she makes quick and rash decisions which often end with decisions to be bad. For example, after seeing the violence which takes place around her, she desires to get violent herself and attempts to beat up a boy at her school. On the other hand, she works to maintain goodness in a time where everything around her seems bad. Depending on what is happening around her, she goes allows herself to travel back and forth from being good, to bad.

My belief is that people are neither inherently good or bad. Both of these characteristics reside in each person and it is up to them which one they allow to develop. At any time, a person can switch from one to another, but it is ultimately their own decision. Also,it isn’t something a person has to be on one side or the other of. Rather, it is a spectrum which a person can reside at any point on. Major life events likely impact where on the spectrum they allow themselves to remain, but it is ultimately their decision where they choose.

Our perception of events which have taken place throughout history is influenced by different cultural factors which construct our understanding. These factors include misinformation, news sources, government, our own realities, family, friends etc. As Professor Erickson mentioned in Political Science, everything we learn is a model of something else. For example, if we learn about the War on Terror, what we come to understand is a model of the war, not the war itself as we were not there to experience it ourselves. This leaves a lot of room for inaccuracy.

This concept was mentioned in the paper The Role of Interpretative Communities in Remembering and Learning by Farhat Shahzad. One of the first factors to look at which influences our understanding is misinformation. As the 18 year old female student mentioned in the Shahzad paper, “I feel misinformed as a Canadian. I believe [that] we are not being informed of [the] exact realities by our media and [the] government.” The way in which a news source portrays an event contributes to how it becomes constructed in our minds. Without being there to experience the event first hand, it can be difficult to sort out what is true and what statements will leave us misinformed (especially when the information is coming from a reliable news source).

Our families and the way in which we are raised impacts how we come to understand things that happen in the world around us. As mentioned in the Shahzad essay, “These prior relationships may be important in determining the process and product of recalling together, particularly when considering the functions of collective remembering (Harris, Paterson & Kemp, 2008, p. 222).” The people in our lives impact the way in which we comprehend information. We grow up watching the way our parents react to information and have it relayed to us in a way that they deem adequate. In these young years, our opinions and viewpoints are formed. Although they can later be altered, this time impacts our later understanding of world events. Our teachers in school often also contribute to how we learn to interpret events as along with our parents, they train us how to consume and interpret knowledge (Shahzad). 

For example, growing up in a primarily white town in Southern Ontario, my understanding of other cultures was limited, as were my parents. We didn’t talk about other cultures and we certainly didn’t spend much time researching the conflicts which took place in them. When 9/11 took place it was the first time I had heard of the Middle East and because I was so young, the detail I received about the attacks was minimal. What I knew was that the al-Qaeda was responsible and they were from the Middle East. It wasn’t until middle school when I was suddenly sent to a new school where as a caucasian female, I was the minority. I was experiencing culture shock when I met a kind girl named Yasmine. She looked different than me and her english was very broken so I could tell she wasn’t from Canada, but she was kind and wonderful to talk to. What they didn’t tell us at school was about the other people living in those areas, how they were just like the people that I knew in Canada; they were good people. Despite my ignorance, my new friend was patient with me and explained the ins and outs of her families culture. I left that conversation feeling embarrassed and confused; how could I have gotten it so wrong? Although I believed her, I did some of my own research. Still when I typed in “September 11th attacks” negative things about the Middle East came up, of course. I then realized it was time to broaden my search, “beautiful culture of the Middle East” and “people of the middle east” turned up results that lined up with what Yasmine had told me. 

Although our understanding can be “socially mediated” by our various “interpretive communities”, as stated in the Shahzad essay, there are ways we can construct our own understanding to avoid coming across as ignorant. It is important to be critical of even reliable news sources, although it can be nearly impossible to sort out what information is true at times. Also, although the people we learn from, like teachers, family, friends, etc, may have their own understanding of an event which they are content with, it is important to challenge that knowledge until we are satisfied with our own comprehension. 

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