On Walt Whitman

"There was never any more inception than there is now, 

Nor any more youth or age than there is now, 

And will never be any more perfection than there is now,

Now any more heaven or hell than is now."

This poem was not so much about the American or national identity but rather about identities in general. I think Whitman is trying to say that it is important to live in the moment. An individual's identity is how the individual is in the present. In the stanza, he is talking about there is nothing more than the present. It really shows how there is nothing more defining of an identity than what they do in the present. A person's identity cannot be anything of the past because then that may not actually be their current identity and what they feel. Like the previous statement, a person's identity also cannot be defined by their age but only what is in the moment. The present is the perfect representation of an individual's identity. This really shows how Whitman believes that the defining moment for an individual's identity is the present. It tries to teach people that it is not the past or the future that defines you, but rather the present and how you are in the moment. Although the past does affect who you are, your identity is not the same as the one you had in the past and your identity can change. 

On Empathy and Selfishness

During the discussion of Out of the Silent Planet, the topic of empathy. Empathy is, by definition, the ability to understand another person's feelings. In my opinion, empathy exists; however, just because it exists does not mean people are not selfish.

People are selfish and that cannot be changed. Even though a person can feel bad for another, they may not do anything about it. For example, when most people watch the news and read or see something terrible happening to other people elsewhere, they would probably think to themselves, "Oh! That's terrible. I hope the situation gets better." Then what? Nothing. Many people even forget about it a few days later. Does that mean that we are not empathetic? Of course not. The moment you saw the bad news you were empathetic by even feeling bad for the people in the terrible situation. But did we do anything? Not really. We are selfish enough to not care and not do anything to help others even when they need help. Not to say that no one helps but the point is that most people don't.

In the end, if all people were empathetic and were not selfish, we would not have as many problems as we do today. People enjoy indulging themselves and sometimes even when they feel empathy, they make excuses not to help. It is the way people are but maybe if we can change that, the world could be a better place.