Whether it's inanimate or only existing in one's mind "ownership" over something is not necessarily a boost to one's class, but what separates humanity from itself and other species. In my mind, ownership is possession and in so stating there are countless forms of ownership, not all of whom are accepted with open arms. One may possess a certain disease or malignancy. Someone may be plagued with a deformity or disorder; nonetheless possession or ownership can define who we are in a society as small as a school or as great as a planet. No too people are the same right?
Take humanity first for example. What makes humans different from animals? What makes us civilized or uncivilized? Men or beasts? The answer is possession. Our species uniquely owns a rare, ever expanding brain that can process tons more information than brains of different species. These brains have taken advantage of tools and water, opposable thumbs, and branched to create a civilization of more than 6 billion creatures developing and acquiring knowledge for itself.
Within our species, ownership of different outlooks on life is prevalent in finding difference among human mentality. Leftist Democrats at one end of the political spectrum, for example, look at politics very differently than right-winged conservative Republicans at the opposite side. In literature and the media, Marvel superheroes and super-heroines command different super powers that make them different from each other and general society. These powers can either be mental or physical, which prompts the physical difference of human beings. Here’s a hint, clones haven’t come into full production yet so, at the time, humanity only gets duplicates when born out of the same womb or with a random freaky coincidence. Regardless, finding a non-twin double of yourself is practically impossible. To make the point blatantly obvious, each human on Earth has a unique genetic makeup that makes them different from everyone else (physically at the least).
Ownership is then a human right. Besides separating humanity from animals, possessing something grants one the freedom to exploit it (or explore it, to put it nicely for Annie, my blog commenter ;) ). One may, for example, exploit the benefits of owning a car. Another example can be one’s ability to look at scenarios from different angles to literally maintain a different, rare outlook on life. In essence, owning something gives the owner a sense of freedom. This freedom can work many wonders; it can be an escape, an opportunity, an obstacle, or anything else one may believe. Whether it be possessing a disability or owning a sensitive super nose (Midnight’s Children by Salman Rushdie), owning something can benefit in a number of ways. Therefore, it means a lot to own something. Many don’t realize it but life actually is a game of snakes and ladders but, if you keep your eyes open, your ears open, and pay attention, it won’t be that bad of a ride after all.
Thanks for the shout out :* but I found your post interesting. I think you had a complicated idea- that ownership makes us human. It's really complicated. But I think you need a rebuttal. Like doesn't a bird own their nest? They made it. I think you were kind of getting to that humans use their ownership to mean something. A bird simply owns it. A human exploits it and in return it becomes theirs. Maybe how they own it shows who they are? I don't know. You're toying with big concepts and I think you could have used more examples or even you could dive deeper into this idea. But either way it could use more control to make it more understandable. But overall really interesting work.
ReplyDeleteDrew, I agree with Annie. Terrific approach to the topic--any time you delve into the human experience, I am going to be a fan--but, like Annie said, the sentences need a little more control to be able to follow this with ease. (For example, is ownership a human right or a human trait?) And Annie's point about the counter-argument is really useful...but first, I think, you need your thesis to be a little more concrete (even if it's at the end).
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