When I was young, the only time I thought about the future was either for Christmas or my birthday. Long term goals typically involved finding a good snack to eat during a cartoon show. Emotions dominated actions, desires and motives; it may as well have been the end of the world when my mom wouldn’t let me have another pack of gushers. Snyder captures the essence of childhood perfectly when he describes the realm of the “primitive”: “Having no concern with history…no overriding social goals…such people live vastly in the present.”[1] In fact, most of my earliest memories involve immense satisfaction for very simple things. I can vividly remember eating the end piece of a French bread loaf, while watching Shaggy on Scooby-Doo do the exact same thing. The emotional connection obviously had a profound effect on me. Another memory from many years back (well, relatively—I am only 19) that still gives me warm and fuzzies was acting like Mortal Combat characters in the snow with my older brother. It was rare for him to want to play with me, and the remnants of gratification for being included still move me when I think of it today. At my current age, if I were to derive the same amount of pleasure from eating the same food as a cartoon character, I would most likely be teased. I guess we learn to suppress our emotions.
SUB-ZERO WAS MY FAVORITE CHARACTER--PROBABLY BECAUSE HE WAS MY OLDER BROTHER'S FAVORITE TOO.
As a boy, I did encounter the social pressure described by professor Bump. Crying was a definite sign of weakness, and I developed the ability to stifle tears completely around fifth grade. It may have been the result of social pressure, but the “rule” of boys not crying was also something I wanted to follow. After years of practicing this rule there are very few things that can make me even think of crying. I feel like this could have been the first step I took to end, and even reverse, growth in my emotional intelligence. Social standards emphasize the scholastic intellect over emotional awareness; there are no classes that teach empathy or self reflection until college. As a result our society as a whole seems to be more detached. People go to therapy to try to figure out why they are depressed, but even our solutions mimic what is causing the problem in the first place—drugs that neutralize peoples emotional capacities certainly help prevent feelings of depression, but they also eliminate happiness. One of my good friends quit taking her medication because she said she couldn’t “feel” anything. She said she hadn’t felt happy about anything for the past two years. The standards we hold ourselves to intellectually seem to have a similar effect. When will we stop taking the drugs?
THIS DUDE STARTED A WEBSITE CALLED "REAL MEN DON'T CRY"...JUST ANOTHER EXAMPLE OF WHAT WE GROW UP THINKING.The complex spectrum of emotions that we comprehend are what separate us from animals. Crows, for example, exhibit remarkable problem solving skills considering the size of their brains. They can learn tricks and vocal patterns through repetition, much like a third grader learns their multiplication tables. However, a crow will never contemplate how it or its peers feel emotionally. In Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, emotions are the only thing that separate people from the robots. However, Rick Deckard was convinced that his fellow bounty hunter, Phil Resch, was an android. He was disturbed by Phil’s lack of empathy for an android, saying “[It’s] the way you killed Garland and then the way you killed luna.”[2] Phil’s ability to detach himself from his job caused Rick to question Phil’s humanity. What, then, would Rick have thought about a slaughter house worker? Phil, and many people today, are simply practicing what they are taught to from a young age. Maybe the answer in animal cruelty doesn’t involve making people feel for animals, but reminding them that deep down they already do. Hopefully I will be able to use P3 to regain a connection with my emotional intelligence—I know it will help me appreciate life to its fullest.
THIS FIGURED OUT HOW TO MAKE A HOOK TO GET SOME FOOD. QUESTION: IS THIS MORE OR LESS HUMAN THAN IF IT WERE TRYING TO HELP ANOTHER INJURED BIRD?
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