The Bravery of the Moth

"Life is hard. Then you die. Then they throw dirt in your face. Then the worms eat you. Be grateful it happens in that order."

David Gerrold

Of all animals, Virginia Woolf chooses the moth to represent the balance between life and death. The moth is a delicate creature that only emerges with the evening and thrives during the night. The moth's pale coloring is makes a stark contrast to the surrounding dark. The diminutive light of the moth is quickly extinguished in the sea of death the night represents. The narrator moves to help the moth with a "pencil", but changes her mind with the realization that death approaches. The vitality that the moth initially demonstrated as a "bead of pure energy" is lost as he thrashes about in an attempt to correct himself. The loss of body control shows the transition from youth to elderly, and appears quickly to the eyes of a human being. After all we have much longer life spans than any type of insect. Despite this we lack the courage the moth possesses. He fights for life in the darkness in which he lives while people run and hide in homes as night approaches. While we run from the night we also try to come up with plans to thwart death, even for a temporary amount of time. The average human lifespan has increased impressively over the last centaury, but Death remains inevitable. The same darkness that surrounds the moth surrounds us, and we also will die in the same way. 

Personal Accounts

"Food, in the end, in our own tradition, is something holy. It's not about nutrients and calories. It's about sharing. It's about honesty. It's about identity."

Louise Fresco

Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/keywords/identity.html#BzczYsb4HEdFGQZG.99

Most accounts of immigration we come across in schools are in textbooks. They give historical accounts, an overview, about the reactions of older inhabitants of the area that happen with an increase in an immigrant population. In Fish Cheeks author Amy Tan gives a personal example about the personal events and feelings that happen on the newcomers point of view.
Tan is in love with the "Minster's son" who is "White as Mary" and is worried about his family's reactions to her family's traditional foods and customs (Tan 2). Tan's anxiety is shown in a panicked inner dialogue that criticizes her family and herself. Her description of "Our shabby Chinese Christmas" is a demonstration of the divide between ethnicities (Tan 4).   "Our" is an inclusive possessive, but Tan uses our selectively, only applying to herself and her family. In her mind, her crush and his family are on another spectrum, an impossible distance to cross. Her conviction of the impossibility is challenged when the minster does the unexpected. He "managed a small burp" in response to Tan's father's declaration of traditional Chinese eating etiquette (Tan 29). Tan was only thinking about how rude her culture would seem to those unfamiliar with it, and how no one would close the divide. The shock of the small gesture of acceptance "Stunned (her) into silence for the remainder of the meal" (Tan 30). She had never considered that the white family would be willing to embrace her culture.

Taboo Topic?

“Part of the problem with the word 'disabilities' is that it immediately suggests an inability to see or hear or walk or do other things that many of us take for granted. But what of people who can't feel? Or talk about their feelings? Or manage their feelings in constructive ways? What of people who aren't able to form close and strong relationships? And people who cannot find fulfillment in their lives, or those who have lost hope, who live in disappointment and bitterness and find in life no joy, no love? These, it seems to me, are the real disabilities.”
― Fred Rogers,       

         Nancy Mairs's reputation as a ""Radical"" writer comes from her willingness to discuss taboo topics(Bedford 13). Her piece Disability shines light onto the stereotypical perceptions of those with disabilities with a focus on the debilitating decrease of confidence that often comes with stranger's reactions. The exposure of disabilities in the media has been gaining in recent years. The television show Glee has a cast that includes characters in wheelchairs or with Down Syndrome. Keeping these characters in the show helps spread awareness about common disabilities, both mental and physical.
        Despite the advancements in public awareness, discussing disabilities and disorders, especially mental disorders, remains controversial. There is little to no learning about disabilities schools, not even in health classes. Autism is one of the most common developmental disorders with more than one in one hundred people affected by it worldwide, yet it is rarely spoken of (The National Autistic Society). Speaking about differences between people is always a risk, but without discussion the differences become a gap that becomes increasingly difficult to cross. Physical disorders will be seen as ordinary with greater ease than their mental counterparts because of the willingness and ability of members to champion their cause in entertainment and academic arenas. A society's treatment of citizens seen as abnormal is a good measure of the willingness of the people to accept and celebrate their difference and lead the way to a brighter future.