Why We Care About Whales
Marina Keegan poses a question, “why we care about whales?” after taking part in rescuing whales for a whole day.” When the moon gets bored, it kills the whales” (Keegan 1) is the opening statement of the story. She further explains what happens for whales to find themselves in such situations that need human assistance and attention. She says the water is pulled out of them under fins and flippers by the moon, vacillating them backward and onward before they flip outwards. The whales are capable of fighting the waves, but they cannot resist the moon, which is the earth’s revolution. Stranded whales become desperate, and hostages to their hyperventilation and the majority of them pass away as a result of dehydration. Some of them die before dehydration due to the suffocation of their lungs. Marian is wondering why people were so committed to helping the 50 pilot whales while they do not usually help fellow human beings. She wonders why there are so many people suffering in the world, and yet they do not get much attention. She wonders why a considerable amount of money is used to care for them instead of taking care of the hungry and the suffering. She is amazed at the way people can spend their whole day helping the whales to the extent that they forget to attend to cancer patients next door if in case there is one. This essay explains why we care about whales in reference to Marina. The writing further draws support from the story of the vulture and the little girl.
In life, people judge situations according to how they physically perceive them. We judge without knowing the reason behind the action. Marina is so much in passing judgment why we could assist mere animals and the same attention we cannot give to fellow human beings who desperately need our assistance. She wonders why how institutions spent much money on transporting whales to Florida rather than buying donations. Her perception is that we should care for humans more than animals. The same judgment without understanding the reason behind the action is made on Kelvin Carter. Kevin Cater is sent on a mission in South Sudan as a photographer. He takes a photo of a girl and a vulture. The picture gets many reactions from all those who saw it. The viewers said that he could have dropped the camera and rescued the girl from the vulture. Judgment is done without understanding the nature of his job.
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We care about whales because their life is essential. “Yes, their welfare is important, but surely that of humans is more important” (Keegan 5). We are in cooperation with other species but not a competition; this is because no human being can live without other animals and plants. When offering help, intelligence should not be a factor. Whales in such situations become helpless and aiding them to live a vital role of the human being towards animals. “I placed my hands on his nose and put my face in front of his visible eye. I knew he was going to die, and he knew he was going to die, and we both understood that there was nothing either of us could do about it” (Keegan 6); This clause clearly explains that we have to care about them because they are helpless. And since we work in cooperation with other living things, we spent too much of our time and energy, assisting them to safeguard their life, which is essential.
We care about whales because they need sympathy and comfort, just like human beings. Marina says, “I imagined dying next to my lovely mother or my lover helplessly unable to rely on my parting message” (Keegan 6). This clause indicates sympathy to other creatures, just the same way we need comfort and compassion from our fellow human beings. It is an indication that there are moments in life where we cannot help, but spending time with one in trouble is a sign of comfort. Even though we can’t assist, our presence is what matters. Watching the whales die helplessly in her presence put some understanding that these creatures deserve to live, and people spend much time aiding and caring for them in their time of calamity.
In the story of the little girl and the vulture, Kevin Carter is accused of not putting down his camera and rescue the girl from the vulture. People who saw the photo thought that emotional detachments did not allow him to save the girl, but instead, with other photographers after witnessing multiple tragedies, the option was to continue with the job. But in reality, he was not emotionally detached, but fatally affected by horrors he had witnessed during his work (Lesak 4). Having grown in South Africa during the Apartheid policy, he had seen myriad maltreatments and torture. As a result of this, he felt the need to file the disgusting conduct not only for dark people by whites’ persons but also for maltreatment amongst Africans. His group went out to cover the extreme violence and crimes that happened, a group named the bang-bang club. He witnessed murder, barbaric practices, stabbings, and gunshots. His work was taking photos, and he could not help because he was under tight security from Sudanese soldiers who could not allow him to interfere with the mission.
Even though he would have wanted to assist the girl, the soldiers would not have allowed him to do so. Could Kevin aid the girl and lose his life and job? The girl later recovered and resumed the trek even though no one knows if the girl accessed the center she was trekking to after recovery. To cope up with the situation, the Bang- Bang club used cocaine and drug, which aided them to cope with their occupational horrors. In one of his confiding, he felt the guilt of taking photos whom he could not help as he watched them being killed (Lesak 5). Witnessing maltreatments without helping drained him into depression. The death of his best friend Ken while on his duty while he was not there haunted him. When Nelson Mandela became the president, his work of unveiling the evils done in the society was over. The prize did not directly lead to his death, but it pilled stress for him and guilt. Even though he could not help his photos on famine in Sudan was known internationally when he forgot his papers on his flight.
The story of the struggling girl and the vulture brings out the idea of rendering assistance. The viewers ask questions like why the photographer did not drop his camera and help the girl instead of taking the photo and posting. The viewers don’t understand the type of job Kevin does cannot allow him to assist the girl at the moment. The only way he can help is by posting to ensure that it reaches the good wishers who can rescue the girl and improve the nation at large. With this, it is clear that there are times we wish to support instantly, but the situations that we are in cannot permit us. In such circumstances, we do our best to provide help in all ways possible. According to Kevin, it’s not because we are inhuman or because we don’t consider helping others, but situations do not allow us.
Bringing to the attention of Mariana’s story and that of the struggling girl, help should be given to both human beings and animals. This is because life is essential, and we incorporate it with each other but not competition. Human beings cannot alone without animals and plants. Whales need sympathy just the same way human being needs in stressful situations. The same way the photo of the suffering girl and the vulture raised alarms of assistance is the same way the 50-pilot whales’ calamity should build fear of getting support from people. This is because life is vital to both humans and animals. In the case of Kevin, some situations will not allow us to render instant help. Our actions while trying to deliver assistance indirectly may be criticized, but at long last, the support we intended to offer is accomplished.
Conclusion
In conclusion, from the two stories, it is clear that most of the time, human beings judge without the knowledge of the reason behind the action. It is good to always know the logic before deciding. We care and give attention to whales in time of calamities because we are in cooperation with them and not competition. Their life is essential, just like our lives, and intelligent is not a factor while rendering help. In the case of the vulture and the little girl, it brings into our attention that there come times in life when we cannot offer direct help. In such a situation, we all try means possible to ensure that help will reach the victim. Sometimes assisting puts us in dilemmas. For instance, Kevin is in the difficulty of either helping the girl or losing his life. We should also look at the reason behind the action before judging.
