Love, War, and Perspective: By Sophi Leporte and Cheyenne Biel

“For what you see and hear depends a good deal on where you are standing: it also depends on what sort of person you are.” ― C.S. Lewis, The Magician's Nephew.

Perspective can change everything: from how we deal with internal conflicts to how we face the external conflicts that surround us in our society. This week in MSEL, we learned of many things, from how synthetic biology can affect our future to potential green inventions, such as trees on roofs. Throughout the week, however, there seemed to be one reoccurring theme, perspective, and how it can completely change a story, an idea, and a world.

In English class we discussed the characters and plot in The Milagro Beanfield War. There are two kinds of characters in every book; flat - those who remain the same throughout the book - and round - those who change and experience emotional, physical, and mental growth as the story progresses. As we have just started reading this book, only certain perspectives of different individuals have already become clear. The book is not just based on one person’s experience with the plot or their story which some people find tedious while others think it is beautiful. Instead, John Nichols wrote The Milagro Beanfield War in such a way that the views of almost everyone in the community are present, and so are the individual stories of their lives. The book offers an interesting insight into the fight between large agri-businesses and small farm owners that are struggling to live with their lack of water in the valley as it shows the view of both sides, allowing us to see it from different perspectives. After much deliberation, we have decided not to read the entire book, but instead take out certain sections that relate to our class discussions due to different perspectives on particular chapters. Although in Geography we were not exposed to media that showed different perspectives of one problem, we learned to look past the opinions and focus on the facts.

In World Geography we watched a documentary called Fuel. This movie was based on the story of a young man who was brought up in Louisiana and exposed to harmful gases, from the nearby oil refinery. As he grew older, he became aware of the gas’ effect on his community. Fuel is not only about his story but also focuses on the idea that we do not need oil and gas from these harmful companies, that instead we can use bio-fuel. It shows different ways to save the dependency on these companies by presenting new ideas such as Megaflora trees that can grow by themselves and then grow back when they are cut down, potentially allowing paper to become a renewable source. Although the movie was inspirational and interesting, the main character had a personal connection with these oil companies far bigger than we do, and often would state opinions as opposed to facts. His perspective on the companies was different from that of, say, a worker there, and we had to seek the facts and look past the opinions because it’s important to receive information from every perspective because only then can we make a true choice. We need to view situations objectively in order to seek our subjective opinions.

In Biology class this week we looked at synthetic biology and the idea of making or “renovating” genes. Of course, this is a breakthrough in the world of science but there is also a downside. As research provides more insights to faster ways of creating genes, the market becomes bigger and the price becomes lower. Soon, the luxury of developing or studying a particular gene will be available to many as prices get lower every year. Why does this matter? Because this technology is not necessarily a good thing. It could have unpredictable, potentially disastrous consequences if the technology is used for non-beneficial purposes such as making a harmful life form that did not previously exist on this planet. Even though we are just freshman in high school and we should go more in depth into this subject to really develop our own opinion, both views on synthetic biology are extremely relevant and thought-provoking, each perspective offering a valid point.

John Lubbock, an English politician and biologist said, “What we see depends mainly on what we look for.” This concept is threaded neatly into the movie we are watching in health: Erin Brockovich. Erin is a bad-luck-attracting, single mother who went through many hardships in life.Then, she started working at a law agency, and discovered that PG&E was continuously offering a high buying price on a house, due to its close proximity to one of their plants.The family living there had suffered many health problems, and they had been provided with a doctor by the company. The family was told by this doctor that their various health issues had nothing to do with the nearby PG&E plant. After Erin did some digging, she found that the symptoms matched exactly with symptoms of exposure to the harmful materials the plant was leaking. It took an outsider’s perspective on the case to crack it, and sometimes we have to remember to step back and see our problems from an outsider’s point of view.

Finally, in seminar we have worked on our debates about renewable and non-renewable energy sources. Half the class was given a non-renewable energy source to study while the other half we were given the tough job of trying to find facts that support a non-renewable energy source, the exact facts that we have been working against all year. It’s interesting to look at it all from another perspective though, to see all of this information almost out of another set of eyes which is what we must do to convince the audience that our source is truly the all-round best choice for energy. Sometimes it is hard to view situations from another angle and sometimes it even requires a shove or push in order to do so; however, once we do, everything becomes a lot clearer.

All in all, this week has taught us so much in our basic lessons but has also given us a subtle, not-so-obvious lesson on perspective. In order to truly understand anything we need to look at every viewpoint and from all angles. Every idea, thought, and creation is a bridge, a pathway between two separate opinions. No one can build a bridge from just studying one side of the land, the only way to create the best bridge is to step back and look at both sides and from there, everything will (for the most part) fall into place.