Not What You Expected

Not What You Expected

I want you to color me like a paint the numbers

I will correspond 1, 4, 3

As long as you promise

That when you are finished

Space won’t look like a black void of nothing

But instead a colorful galaxy

I want you to make sure to be careful with your choice of shade

And don’t worry too much about painting in the lines

You have made me daring enough that I don’t have them anymore

And when the light isn’t there to whitewash these scars

I will wear your coat of paint like the stars

Because you have chased out the sun

And made me understand that the imperfect moon is much more beautiful

And what if I told you that that was all a lie

And if I am being real

I am

Not in love

Not afraid

Not alone

Not anything

Just gray

And me

But really what did you expect by the age of 15

Was I supposed to be heartbroken

Was I supposed be so aged by my life that I am 15 going on 40

So, no I am not turning into a middle aged man

But let’s just imagine I am

Dressed in an ill fitting tweed coat

I slip my hands into my pockets

Only to find I have dropped my adjectives

Misplaced my verbs and nouns

Lost my similes and hyperboles

And found out I can’t really write poetry

I have been pickpocketed of my emotions

Because when you are

Not in love

Not afraid

Not alone

Not anything

You become a bit colorblind

But I enjoy my monochromatic world

When everything is simple

They say Emily isn’t it a bit strange to be that empty, to just be filled with gray

And I say no, your guts are gray and personally I like being filled with them so I can literally live

But that wasn’t what they were talking about

Today I was expected to scream about the blood red of love

Or talk about how I have caught by a black tar of depression

I was suppose to propose some kind of concession

About how the world isn’t too dark or about how we will all find love

About how one day we will be heard

I was supposed to be the person to drop the mic

I was supposed to be who you wanted me to be

I was supposed to be the Emily Cheng who has a way with words and who can coax syllables and smiles to evoke tears and smiles

I was supposed to perform

And like all great works of theater I was not supposed to let you know it was just an act

But for now

While I might not be what you were expecting

I personally quite like gray

So I might not be stunning

And I might not be new

And I might have disappointed you

You who were hoping for the stars

And paint in various places on my body

But I will not lie to be human

I am content with just me and gray

Amir and Baba's Relationship

This photo of heart stickers posted on a locker represents how Amir blatantly shows his love and admiration towards Baba, but Baba remains locked and stoic towards Amir. Parts of the hearts have been ripped off showing how Baba has almost ruthlessly denied Amir's attempts to connect with him and continues to isolate himself from his son's affection. However, some hearts remain intact, showing that Amir and Baba do have some connecting moments where they mutually have a connection. But, these small hearts are always overshadowed by the lock, which is the focal point of the picture. This inability to have Baba open up to Amir is also the focal point of their relationship at the beginning of the book.

Need Quick Cash? Sell Your House, Your Car, Your Kidney?

Your kidney is worth $262,000 (How). Would you sell it? For the average human, your body has a net worth of $843,751 on the black market (How). For many people in desperate situations, they turn to selling their organs as a way to make money. While organ trafficking is portrayed as abduction, bloody bathrooms and a chainsaw, most organ trafficking actually happens when desperate people have their organs removed for payment in a facilitated hospital much like the ones ordinary people visit (Scheper-Hughes). That is the daunting part of the organ trade, it is all ordinary people who have to choose between the blurry lines of ethics and death.  

People all around us live with life threatening diseases such as diabetes that will only be fully remedied with a organ transplant. However, most people who are in need of an organ only have a staggering 17% chance of receiving it hence the large demand for illicit organ transplants (Swingler). It is estimated that because of the lack of altruistic organ donations, roughly 10% of all transplants are actually connected to the organ trade (Swingler). With a black market that has desperate people on both ends, it is easy to see how exploitable both parties are. The trade works when a person in need of a donor seeks out a middleman who is a part of an organ trafficking ring. This person then goes to find a desperate seller in most likely a third world country. The donor is then flown into whatever country the recipient lives in and the transplant is done through a dual surgery at a facilitated hospital (Scheper-Hughes).

While it sounds gruesomely terrifying to have such a market occurring all around the globe, there is plans for the future of organ trafficking and how it will be controlled (NewsPick). This raises the question whether it is ethical to actually sell one’s organs. Some people “fears that the line between selling organs and actually selling people is a rather fine one” (Rohter). There are two sides to this spectrum, the people who believe that this illicit trade takes advantage of too many people and as a result should be completely shut down and those who believe there is a safe market opportunity in the organ trade. The theory of making the organ trade safe is having it be medically regulated in a way that desperate people could earn money while saving someone’s life (Swingler). The main issue with the black market as it is, is the after effects that occur to both parties. Many times the recipient will receive an organ with HIV or an organ that is simply not a match for their body and hence their body rejects it (Scheper-Hughes). The people donating an organ certainly cannot afford health insurance and can therefore not afford after care for the surgery; some even die from this. The future of the organ trade depends on the ethical idea about where your body is property that you can legally sell and if there will ever be a way to prevent organ rings from stepping in and exploiting desperate people.

While organ trafficking seems to occur in shady back alleys hundreds of miles away, often times this trade occurs all around us. There will always be people desperate for organs and there will always be people desperate for money. The need for organs drives this trade and until there is either a regulated way to sell organs legally or a complete stop to the organ trade, the bloody bathrooms and chainsaws might not be too far from myth (Organ).

Bibliography:

"How Much Are Your Body Parts Worth on the Black Market?" 1025 KSFM. N.p., n.d. Web. 08

Mar. 2017.

NewsPick." 8 Countries Where Human Organs Are Harvested. N.p., n.d. Web. 07 Mar. 2017.

   "Organ traffickers lock up people to harvest their kidneys. Here are the politics behind the organ

trade." Washingtonpost.com, 7 Dec. 2016. Student Resources in Context,

link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A473111067/SUIC?u=los42754&xid=7839d0c8. Accessed 8 Mar. 2017.

Scheper-Hughes, Nancy. "Human Traffic: Exposing the Brutal Organ Trade." New

Internationalist. N.p., n.d. Web. 07 Mar. 2017.

Swingler, Shaun. "The Dark World of Internet Kidney Trafficking." Health24. N.p., 25 Feb.

2015. Web. 06 Mar. 2017.

A Tang of Salt

"He took the chopsticks, picked up the pebble from the dish and slowly dipped it in the sauce as if performing a ritual. then he raised the pebble to his lips and sucked it with relish"(72).

"It's a remedy against cowardice. To gain courage, you must swallow it when it's still lukewarm and frothy... When he finished he sucked his fingers one by one, to make sure not a drop was wasted"(94).

Analysis:

Sijie uses the symbols of the jade dumplings and the buffalo’s blood to emphasize the hardships one faces while coming of age. Many aspects of one’s coming of age are rooted in relishing the little things in life and not taking gifts for granted. This is shown in the deep enjoyment and “relishing” the old man takes when simply dipping rocks into salty water. This intervenes with the idea of coming of age, because it shows that as one gets older they are faced with harder situations and more difficult tasks, yet they must remain grateful for the simple pleasures to be enjoyed. Like the jade dumplings, Four-Eyes choice of drinking the cure for cowardice shows a peak in the process of coming of age. Four-Eyes chooses to drink the bufallo blood in order to “cure himself from cowardice”. This is a choice made towards the goal of developing into an adult. Coming of age has everything to do with evaluating your personal self. By admitting his cowardice, Four-Eyes is growing and maturing. Drinking the buffalo blood shows that he is ready for change and is actually forces it upon himself. Using the blood as a “cure”, he believes that he will cure himself of cowardice, and subsequently his boyhood. Therefore, he is beginning to walk down the path of a developing adult.

Stained Glass

Too many years too young

To be trickling away our lives

Grains of sand sliding down the hourglass

Just so we can be prepared for the far off day called the future

Hissssss

So stop

Stop wishing

Stop wanting

Stop trying

Be lax

Be loose

Slide like a snake among the dunes

Be neutral

Be silent

Let the whims and ways of the world guide you

Let them lead you along

Pulled by the red string

A puppet of life

But a ribbon dancer of Tao

Be at peace

Get some sleep

Clear your mind

Good night