In the novel Friendswood Written by Rene
Steinke, a small town in Texas is taken over with chemical dumping’s that have
affected the town in a very negative way. One of the characters in the novel is
Lee who was the mother of a teenage girl by the name of jess who died due to
cancer from this disastrous chemical dumping; that is causing the land and the
people of Friendswood to become sick. These unfortunate events would be taken
care by the government in some cities and states, but in Friendswood the Environmental
protection agencies are doing nothing to help protect these people instead the
mayor of Friendswood has decided to build on the poisoned land rather than
maintain the chemical infested soil.
In the town of Friendswood, Lee is seen
as crazed and obsessive with the conditions of the town and what the mayor
intends to do with the poisoned soil. Though she is seen as insane and
obsessive, she is an activist for what she believes in. she believes so
strongly on the issues in Friendswood, and because of her past experience with
the loss of her daughter she would not want anyone else to feel the same way
that she did when she lost her daughter, so she fights for what she believes
in, she thinks differently and defies what the government wants her and the
rest of the town want her to believe.
Thinking differently and dissenting from
others for something you believe in so strongly in is always a valuable thing. To me dissenting is always okay as long as it
is something that you feel very strongly about and people achieve these goals
without harming others or themselves. To Dissent can help change the world in a
positive manner, as long as we use our freedom of speech and our right to
protest in a positive and non violently dissenting from others thoughts and
actions is always okay and a good thing to do, if you believe strongly in a
movement or disagree strongly on something.
Bringing it back to Friendswood Lee
strongly disagrees with Taft industries, Mayor Wallen and their plan to build
on the chemical filled land, essentially only to get more money. Though Lee may
be taking it to the extreme and allowing this to consume her entire life, I can
understand why she would be like this. The loss of her daughter has made her
obsessive with the cause of her death and she like any other parent would react
the same way, wanting to get down and rid of the cause od death to their child.
Lee may be taking things very far and letting it all consume her life, but deep
down in side it is all for a good reason and something that she strongly
believes in.
Connected all this to events happening in
our society today many people have are protesting around the united states from
the water crisis in flint Michigan to the Dakota access pipeline. These events
taking place around the United States have caused for many people to protest
and dissent daily from what the government is doing or is not doing for their
town. For example, in flint Michigan they have had contaminated water since
2014 and are still facing this crisis. People have taken the streets of
Michigan to protest for what they should have.
