Recognizing The Effects of Our Actions

Although their arguments may be focused on significantly different situations, authors Tom Wayman and Gerard Manley Hopkins seem to criticize the inability of humans to recognize the consequences of their actions. Yet, in the midst of this negativity, each one manages to convey a substantial amount of hope. Perhaps, if people become more aware of the ways in which their actions affect themselves and others the world will be relieved all of its injustices.

Initially, Tom Wayman’s direct analysis of a teacher’s reaction to an absentee in his poem, Did I Miss Anything?, highlights the ways in which our actions can affect us personally. In doing or choosing to do one thing over another we are inevitably forced to make sacrifices. Even though our choices may, at the time, appear to be the most logical or beneficial options, economic thinking forces us to understand that whatever benefits result from our decision come at the cost of those benefits that would have been achieved via the latter decision. Nonetheless, the recognition of this “opportunity cost” forces us to realize that time does not exist simply in our presence. Just because we would like to believe that nothing significant can happen when we are not present does not mean that it won’t. However, while such sacrifices are entirely unavoidable, Wayman notes that they are not merely negative. There are things to be gained in both situations and as long as we are aware of what we are gaining at each moment we will never truly be at a loss.

In contrast, rather than focusing on personal consequences, Gerard Manley Hopkins chooses to emphasize the more widespread costs of our actions. Written in the mid to late 1800s, just after the second industrial revolution, at a time when mankind was determined to revolutionize the workplace by developing major factories and increasing production, Hopkins’s poem, Gods Grandeur, pays significant attention to the ways in which our actions affect the natural world. In the first eight lines of the sonnet, or the octet, Hopkins expresses his frustration with the ways in which men have “degraded themselves through meaningless toil and cut themselves off from the spiritual renewal inherent in the beauty of nature” (195). He uses alliteration and cacophony to emphasize how mans ego and selfishness have allowed him to become entirely oblivious to the destruction he has caused. Yet, despite this abuse and insensitivity to the natural world, Hopkins uses the last six lines of the poem, or the sextet, to confirm the prevalence of “Gods Grandeur”. Even with all the disaster that has been caused, “nature is never spent” (line 9). There is always hope for rejuvenation, but it depends on mans willingness to renounce his feelings of superiority and accept that the relationship between man and nature must be one of mutual respect. For if he becomes aware of his impact and recognizes his faults there will always be hope.

Consequently, in the same ways that these authors try to find hope in the midst of destruction and attempt to promote awareness for a given cause, the writers/creators of The Wire, a television drama set in the heart of Baltimore City, are making an effort to help outsiders understand the hardships faced by the majority of Baltimore’s population. Although the situations and characters present throughout the series are entirely fictitious, they are based off of actual instances and set in realistic neighborhoods. And for those of us that may be oblivious to the “other Baltimore” that exists beyond the boundaries of campus, this series, with all of its violence and foul language, is meant to shock us, to open our eyes. Like the Year of the City initiative, which encourages students to explore service options within the surrounding communities and explore all aspects of he city, The Wire prompts students to consider ways in which they can help. Our actions are not meaningless. There is hope. We can make a difference. And the first step is by recognizing and accepting the reality of a city plagued by drug abuse, corruption, and poverty.