Last mountain pt. 3

Reece talks about Wendell Berry and how he explains the difference between a "rational" mind and a "sympathetic" mind. When I think about rational thinking I believe it to be the thought process in which one makes a decision because they believe it to be the smartest, most realistic, and least consequential decision. Rational decisions are made for the best possible outcome at that time and it does not necessary comply with the emotions or thoughts of others. A sympathetic mind or way of thinking differs from a rational mind. My thought of what Berry explains sympathetic minds to be is one that makes decisions and actions based upon emotions and the effects that their decision may have on others. Sympathetic minds do not think only upon themselves and they look at other possible decisions even if it will not provide the best outcome for themselves.

Reece's sympathetic mind can be seen in the first chapter of part 3. He talks about the Carter family who live by a road in which the weight limit was constantly suppassed by coal trucks driving on it. Darlies Carter was on her way home from work and was hit head-on by a coal truck being driven by an ex-con on thirty Xanax. It killed her. She was going to graduate from college that year and her mother said, "I was getting ready for a graduation and instead had to go to a funeral." Another way that Reece demonstrates his sympathetic mind was in the chapter RFK in EKY. He talks about how Robert Kennedy had come to Eastern Kentucky to address the coal mining problem in Kentucky. RFK talks about how devasted the land was that he saw after strip mining had occured. He mentions that "the people of Eastern Kentucky are three-way losers." After all this he gets in the car with Mr. Caudill and tells him they will do something about this. Four months later Reece adds, Robert Kennedy was shot dead after winning the Democratic Party. He uses both these examples to show sympathy and to get the reader's sympathy in his reading.

Qoute: "Serous Measures to move toward alternative energies were shuttled by the bill. This is obviously bad news for Appalachia. And it is ad news for everyone downstream. There is a certain insanity (I choose the word carefully) about perpetuating a global economy based on limitless growth when that is powered by finite resources-in the case of the energy bill, fossil fuels." (Page 228)

I chose this quote because I believe it brings about a great point. We are trying to produce a limitless world with a resource that has it limits and will run out. We need to find alternative resources other that coal. The problem, as brought up in this class before, is that America is so dependent on coal that we continually just keep going back to it, even though it destroys the environment and people. We do need coal, but we also should really start more and more investing and development of alternative resources before, like Professor Krupa said in part 2, "We kill ourselves off."