Looking the other way...

While reading Stephen Lewis’s “Pandemic: My Country is on its Knees” I questioned why and how people can know about these things and still am able to just go on with our life like we didn’t know. How even though many of us care a majority will do nothing because it does not directly affect us. Stephen falls in love with Africa and its attempt to free its people. Returning quite a few years later he finds a different Africa that is discouraging because of its pandemic of AIDS. While reading this essay I find myself thinking about the numerous times I have seen TV programming asking me to sponsor a child. Many of the things that Stephen talks about, I can honestly say do not shock me. Knowing what Africa is going through and doing nothing about it makes me feel ashamed not of just myself as an individual but as a Canadian as well. I think he is trying to shed some light on what the people of Africa are going through. The intended audience are Canadians of all ages, which it is not hard to compare what we have and what they don’t and to think something needs to be done. The writer does use pathos, which is an emotional appeal and he does this by using many of his own experiences while visiting Africa. Using the examples is very effective and makes it hard to disconnect from the situation that he is presenting. This in turn makes a very convincing essay.

Do you agree with Stephen that this problem should be more than just Africa’s problem?

Your future is my future...

After reading Margaret Atwood’s “Letter to America” she talks about America as if she were talking to a best friend that had grown apart. The letter conveys a disappointment in the political direction and flaws of some moral choices. Margaret states her concern because when something negative happens to America it also happens to Canada. I do agree that when Canada’s neighbour has a problem we do too, but many of the problems that she talks about are also problems that we ourselves have.

I believe that the purpose of this essay is to make people both from Canada and America think about what America used to be like and how it has strayed from its moral path. The intended audience is most likely a generation that is a bit older that can reminiscence about what good things came out of America. Other than Donald duck and Mickey Mouse, which still are present today, I do not have a connection to the people and things that she speaks about in her letter like Ella Fitzgerald and Sinclair Lewis. I believe the examples of people, books, and movies she uses are very effective, but only to her target audience. Even though I do not know many of these people I still could feel the tie she is trying to embody.

In this letter Margaret uses quite a bit of general statements like “You stood up for freedom, honesty, and justice; you protected the innocent.” (p.169). I think almost every generation in some form believes the present generation is way worse than how things used to be. There was just as much scandalous happenings back then, it was just more acceptable and easier to get away with. Many of the problems that she discusses are caused by a miniscule portion of people who are in power. To be particular George Bush seems to be at the root of most of the problems, which is why I think that the letter should be more accurately titled “Letter to George”. All in all I enjoyed reading this letter for it was a more subtle take on America’s affairs and almost humorous in a way.


If George Bush could be honest for five minutes, what do you think his reaction to this letter would be?