Nuclear

The sky crashes down around us
While plumes of smoke
Rise overhead.

The ground shudders beneath us
As the earth trembles
In light of man’s invention.

We used to think that science,
Glorious rationalism and
Unlocking the mysteries of the world,
Should symbolize safety and prosperity.

Yet somewhere in our history,
Perhaps when we traded power for peace,
Perhaps when we could destroy the world
A thousand times over,
We committed sacrilege.

In our prideful pursuit of prestige,
In our conquest of God’s domain,
We have been consumed
In our own, carnivorous creation,
Strangled by the callous grip of our indifference.

As we wage our war of morality,
We see in our reflection
A sanguine red
Smeared across the hearts of our palms,
Death in the creases of our foreheads,
Apathy glistening in our marble eyes.

And only when we see
The scorched trails of destruction,
A city here one moment and gone the next,
Do we wonder,
Did we do the right thing?

Farid: the Dark World

When Amir first returns to Afghanistan, he is not respected by Farid. Farid is resentful towards all of the Afghans who left their country in a time of need. This is result of Farid's intense pride for his nation, a pride that often leads him to have prejudice towards others. In the video, the first image we see is of the one wilted flower. This represents Farid's outlook on Amir, and on Afghan Americans in general. However, just behind this flower, there is one in full bloom, representing Amir and his good intensions. This is out of focus - Farid only focuses on what he expects, and not on Amir's better characteristics. When the camera pans over to the plant, we see Amir's blurred and outdated view of Afghanistan. As Farid says, "You've always been a tourist here, you just didn't know it" (232). Once the video focuses, a gaping hole is revealed in the plant, signifying the destruction of Afghanistan by the Taliban. Farid is consumed by this destruction, leading him to assume the worst of Amir. However, the flowers on the outskirts of the image show that despite the devastation, the common people can still find a way to live.

The Oil Blanket of Nigeria

      “Oil companies do not value our life; they want us to all die,” said a Nigerian community leader. “In the past two years, we have experienced 10 oil spills and fishermen can no longer sustain their families. It is not tolerable” (Vidal). Since 2007, more than 55 million liters of oil have been pumped into the Niger Delta, and the devastation is apparent throughout the country.  Traditional farming and fishing industries have been damaged, and most of the population can’t even secure a water supply. 

      Shell and other industry giants haven’t been held responsible largely because of the lack of international attention on Nigeria’s crisis. The Gulf Spill near the United States received numerous headlines and immediately cleanup, yet it is dwarfed in comparison to the spills around the Niger Delta. A Nigerian citizen describes the U.S. as setting a double standard by aiding to clean up its own spills while ignoring the same kind of pollution in other parts of the world (Vidal).

      The negative impacts of Nigeria’s oil spills stem from corporate apathy and legal failure on the part of the Nigerian government. According to Amnesty International, Shell has failed to properly clean up contaminated land on four separate occasions. Contractors hired by Shell even admit that the “cleanup” process was merely a superficial shift in the soil. As a result, thousands of Nigerian citizens remain exposed to the pollution, and they will likely remain that way for the next few decades (“Niger Delta...”). The National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency reports that families living in contaminated areas are forced to leave their homes for their own safety. Yet corporations still choose to shift blame from themselves, and, unfortunately, the Nigerian legal system cannot force Shell to clean up their pollution (Reed). Companies use the lax legislation to their advantage, prioritizing capital gain over protecting the environment and the citizens. Both the government and corporations have come to accept the overwhelming amount of contamination, and the country’s condition deteriorates as oil spills go unenforced and unmonitored.

      The prevalence of oil spills has exacerbated resentment between the community and oil giants, ultimately diverting attention away from proper cleanup. The growing number of oil spills caused by sabotage and theft shows the rising tensions among the Nigerian people. Although it is natural for citizens to resent large oil companies for their malpractice, sabotaging pipelines to prove a point only brings more suffering. Further evidence of this resentment can be seen when Nigerian fishermen rejected a $50 million compensation from Shell, claiming that it was not enough to restore their livelihoods (Zelman). More recently, the farming and fishing communities have actually filed a lawsuit against Shell, hoping for more repayment (Reed). As the Nigerian people are pushed further into poverty by the absence of vital industries, these legal battles are not doing anything to improve their conditions. The tension between citizens and oil companies has inadvertently halted cleanups since neither side is willing to compromise.

      Nigeria’s environmental crisis is caused by many factors including inaction from private companies, the government, and even affected individuals. It is clear that only proper cleanup can bring the Nigerian people out of their crisis. Not only does the Nigerian government need to be fully involved, many experts believe that the oil crisis, due to its large scale, can only be resolved with the help of other international actors. For now, “The oil companies just ignore it. The lawmakers do not care and people must live with pollution daily. The situation is now worse than it was 30 years ago. Nothing is changing” (Vidal).


Works Cited

    "Niger Delta: Shell's Manifestly False Claims about Oil Pollution Exposed, Again." Niger Delta: Shell's Manifestly False Claims about Oil Pollution Exposed, Again. Web. 07 Mar. 2016.
    "Poor Oil Spill Clean-up Methods Affect Niger Delta Communities." IRIN. 06 Feb. 2008. Web. 07 Mar. 2016.
    Reed, Stanley. "Shell and Nigerian Partner Are Sued in Britain Over Spills." The New York Times. The New York Times, 02 Mar. 2016. Web. 08 Mar. 2016.
    Vidal, John. "Nigeria's Agony Dwarfs the Gulf Oil Spill. The US and Europe Ignore It." The Guardian. Guardian News and Media, 29 May 2010. Web. 08 Mar. 2016.
    Zelman, Joanna. "Nigeria Fishermen Reject Shell's $50 Million." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com. Web. 07 Mar. 2016.

Playing God

Through changing the time of the alarm clock, Luo reveals his immaturity with this responsibility. He is the "master" of time, yet he manipulates it for his own benefit. Though it may seem insignificant, Luo's actions show how much he has mature throughout the novel. Luo seems to be oblivious of the gravity of the situation, and he instead tries to risk his livelihood to have fun. At the end of the ordeal, Luo not only lost touch with the time, he also lost touch with himself. As we can later see in the novel, Luo improves great strides when it comes to responsibility.

“Nonetheless, our home soon became the focal point of the village, thanks to another phoenix, a smaller version, miniature almost, and rather more earthbound, whose master was my friend Luo” (13).

“... In the end we had changed the position of the hands so many times that we had no idea what the time really was” (15).

All That Remains

by Justin Yu

Learn to live in the darkness,

so you will not be blinded in the light.

Learn to forget,

or you will not know what to remember.

Learn to be alone,

so  you will cherish your time with others.

Learn to die and pass on,

and your life will have so much more meaning.

Learn to be like a river,

Flowing free without distractions.

Learn to be like a river,

and all your stress and pain will wash away.

Learn to accept,

and peace will find you.

For the Tao is all that remains

In a world that is ever-changing.

Propaganda: What are you told to believe?