English
See No Evil

In the chapter “See No Evil” in the book The Flight of the Iguana the author, David Quammen makes an important statement when he says, “ I do not trust any animal with more than six legs and two eyes”(Quammen 40). I find this statement to be so important because here we have David Quammen an author with a true love for nature and he struggles with his personal bias against animals. It is in this facet of the chapter in which I am able to connect my personal struggle with a bias. When walking into my first day of high school I was extremely nervous, not knowing exactly what to expect I didn’t go into the situation with an open mind. As I sat down for my first math class a foreign boy entered the room gazing for a seat. I remember vividly, for some reason not wanting the boy to sit next to me so I stared down at the desk, refusing to look up. Starring down at the desk I heard as the foot steps became louder and louder. Finally looking up I watched the foreign looking student sit down directly next to. After an awkward 15 minutes of no conversation the student turned to me and introduced him self saying his name was Egzon and that he was from Albania. Class after class we would have small conversations and I would do my best to seem uninterested. It was not only until our fifth class together till I realized how ignorant I was being. As I thought more about my situation going into high school, I soon observed that Egzon was the only kid that had made an effort to talk to be and become my friend. So from that day fourth I made a promise to myself that I would do my best to get to know Egzon. As the year passed by and we spent more time out of class and in school our friendship grew and by the end of freshman year we were best friends. At the end of the year I looked back to how foolish I was being. Just as Quammen did, I judged a book by its cover. When I saw that Egzon was foreign I was skeptical we could be friends and had and unfair view of whom he really was. When I reminisce I am thankful that I was able to let my walls down and find a great new best friend. Quammen is able to find the beauty of nature in every animal he comes across. We see this when he states, “My own heartfelt conviction is that scorpions are perhaps the most drastically, irredeemably repulsive group of animals on the face of the Earth, even including toy poodle. Maybe that’s part of what makes them so interesting” (41). In this quote Quammen states that he may not find the scorpions to be pleasing to look at, but he surely does respect them and find them interesting. I can definitely align myself with Quammen in this aspect of the world. When the events of 9/11 took place I was only about 6 years old in 2nd grade. I remember school getting out early and riding home on the bus unsure of what was going on. As I hopped of the bus and walk to the front door my mind was racing. Walking into my house I heard much conversation between my family members on terrorism and how people were going to be saved. Still unaware on what was happening I walked into my living room to see my pregnant mother and worried father starring at the news channel. Glancing at the TV I saw two large building on fire. As my mother noticed my presence she quickly steered me out of the room to talk to me, she had clearly been quiet when she said, go up to your room Chris we will talk later. This traumatic experience will always be seared into my memory. As I grew older the War on Terrorism began. Since I was in second grade, kid the age of high school seniors have been shipping over to foreign country risking their lives for me, my family, my friends and all of the country. It is here where I am able to so easily align with Quammen. In my opinion I do not agree with war and what is going over in Iraq. I have a problem with what these soldiers are

told to do on a daily basis. Yet while I may not agree with what they are doing, I sure as hell respect and admire every single soldier that has fought for my freedom. So as we go through these years, and as I read this text I have now aligned the soldiers of our country to the scorpions in Quammen’s life. In the “Introduction” of Quammen’s book he has a very impactful quote where, in my opinion, he summarizes the purpose of the book. He says, “On the contrary, the point here is simply nature on a good day. This quote spoke volumes to me and what able to set a great basis for Quammen’s whole book, after all it becomes much easier to read an authors book if you know why he or she is writing it. As Quammen states his reasoning being to show nature on a good day I must align to an event which allowed me to look at like every day as a good day. Going into my spring of my junior year I was just named captain of my lacrosse team along with my best friend, a senior, Tom Da Ros. As I worked hard in school things seemed to be going very well at the time. On day before our biggest game of the season my parents announced on Monday that we would all be taking a trip to East Hartford to my sister’s apartment for a ‘family’ talk. Thinking not much of it I went through the week played the big game, won in overtime, and did well on a very important test. As Sunday came up we packed into two cars and headed up to my sisters apartment, after pizza we were all sat down. My dad slowly said with a shakey voice I have prostate cancer to his seven children. He never shed a tear and for that I admire him greatly. This large event turned my life upside down. The days after this event were dark and gloomy for me. As I had a terrible month it was time for my dad’s surgery. Noticing the tough time I had in the past month right before he was going into surgery he leaned closed to me and told me “life is too short to worry about everything, be happy”. From that day on I have lived my life without regrets and have found the good in everyday life the way Quammen finds nature on a good day.
Works Cited
Quammen, David. The Flight of the Iguana: A Sidelong View of Science and Nature. New York: Delacorte, 1988. Print.