Envy Quickly Fades Into Admiration

       When a person admires someone or something it is usually because that object of affection is what we are not. Animals have many abilities that humans lack like the ability to run as fast as a cheetah or even the capability of flight like a bird. These talents that animals have often make humans jealous. This envy leads to humans thinking of how lucky these animals are and how unique they are. This minuscule piece of jealousy vanishes and leads to us admiring that particular animal. An animal I was at first envious of was an owl. I was jealous of their ability of flight and their superior eyesight. Their beautiful and chilling vocal cries also made me jealous. Their vast beauty and their capability to travel anywhere captivated me. It was not fair that an animal was capable of being so in charge of their lives and they had the ability of freedom. At first I didn't think it was fair that such an astonishing animal was gifted with all these astounding abilities but then I realized that humans are gifted with talents that owls are not. This made me less envious of owls and I started to admire them. I then perceived that owls are very similar to myself. While I cannot fly like an owl I can run while an owl can barely walk. I also came to the conclusion that owls aren't really free. They too are controlled by humanity. An owl cannot simply go to a place like New York City and live because it will not survive. It would not be capable to live in large cities and needs the forest to survive, limiting its freedom.
        This theme of admiring animals is continued in the two essays, "The Death of the Moth" by Virginia Woolf and "The Courage of Turtles" by Edward Hougland. Both these authors admire their respective animals for similar reasons. In the end of both stories the author tries to help a dying animal while the animal struggles to adapt to its new surroundings. Edward tries to help save the turtles by throwing it into the water but he realizes too late that the turtle cannot survive in the deep water. Virginia tried to save a moth that was dying to escape the house. She tried to pick it up on a pencil but realized too late that it was dead. Both these animals fought to survive and tried to escape death. The animal's struggle to live and their refusal of death made that authors admire them. The authors were baffled by the animals’ tries to escape the inedibility of death even though they will ultimately die.
(10/9/14 at 09:52pm)