Journal 4 - Natalie Linder

        I am going to talk about declaration number 21. It begins with “What leads to peace is not violence but peaceableness, which is not passivity, but an alert informed, practiced and active state of being”(7). I appreciate that Berry chose to clarify that being peaceable was not being weak. It is easy to assume that the stronger and more violent people will overtake those who are only peaceful. Berry gave some great examples of people who were peaceful and yet extremely influential. “We have ignored the teachings and the examples of Christ, Gandhi, Martin Luther King, and other peaceable leaders”. I could not agree more with this statement. Martin Luther King Jr. changed America. He was not a weak man, but a strong, smart and peaceful speaker. If someone tries to force their opinions on me then I am less likely to be receptive. But if someone speaks to me in a kind but strong way, I am more likely to listen. What I mean by strong is that they show authority in the subject they are speaking about. Basically they make it clear that they know exactly what they are talking about. Martin Luther King Jr. did an amazing job at drawing audiences all around. He captivated his audience with the power in his speeches and for that people listened. Unfortunately the subject of war versus peace can often be a gray area. For instance, the terrorists of ISIS are gruesomely killing people. I don’t believe that they would be receptive to a peaceful plea. They seem too dangerous to go the peaceful route. I know lots of people think that you should either be for or against war, but I just don’t think it is that simple. There are so many factors to be considered in each situation, but we do need peace. We should learn from Berry that being peaceful is a sign of strength; it is being the bigger person. Just because you can win a fight, does not mean that you should start one.

        How many times have you looked at an item in a store and it says “Made in China”? I’m sure that has happened quite a few times. In Berry’s essay he states the importance of being able to produce products in your local economy.

“I assume that the first thought may be a recognition of ones ignorance and vulnerability as a consumer in the total economy. As such a consumer, one does not know the history of the products that one uses. Where, exactly, did they come from? Who produced them? What toxins were used in their production? What were the human and ecological costs of producing them and then disposing of them? One sees that such questions cannot be answered easily, and perhaps not at all”(29).

As for myself, I could not answer most of those questions. I should know where things are coming from and how they are made. So many places have lost their ability to be self sufficient. Berry continues on to talk about the importance of self sufficiency in our communities. I agree with this because if ever there was something that made us unable to get things from other places then we need to be able to feed our community. We should be able to grow crops and learn new ways to have energy that uses renewable resources.

In Mr. Barry’s book he uses the word oligarchy. The Merriam Websters dictionary definition states, “2. a government in which a small group exercises control especially for corrupt and selfish purposes; also: a group exercising such control”. It was important to know what this meant because in his writing he claims that “Communism and ‘free market’ capitalism both are modern versions of oligarchy”(15). Berry is trying to show that even if we live in a free market, most large decisions are made from the few people in office. It is true that we vote for those in charge but we, as citizens, are not involved in every decision that is being made.

In Barry’s book he uses an opinion from Stephen C. Blank that says: “Experts such as Stephen C. Blank, of the University of California, davis, have proposed that ‘developed’ countries, such as the United States and the United Kingdom, where food can no longer be produced cheaply enough, should give up agriculture altogether”(21-22). Blank wrote a book called The End of Agriculture in the American Portfolio. “Blank envisions the end of the American farm - a vision of the future grudgingly shared by a growing number of people in the conventional agricultural establishment”(Ikerd). I really hate the thought of this because even if it would be cheaper to outsource our products, that can lead to fully relying on other countries. I do not like that because I think we should be able to support ourselves. Berry’s book was full of thought invoking statements and even if I didn’t agree with every single statement, it is beyond important that we, as a whole, begin to do more than just be aware of things around us. We need to be involved in change.

Sources:

Berry, Wendell. In The Presence of Fear. Print.

Merriam Webster. <http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/oligarchy>. Web.

Ikerd, John. <http://web.missouri.edu/ikerdj/papers/NAF5-EndAmericanFarm.htm>. Web.