Revision

Respect serves to build connections which link the opposing sides of a crisis. Abram’s essay, shows how building respect aids in solving problems. While in Nepal, Abram was puzzled by an offering that was being made to a household spirit which turned out to be a colony of ants. Using logic, he soon found that the offering of rice was to prevent an overwhelming invasion of the ants into the buildings on the island. Abram believes that “the offerings seemed to establish certain boundaries between the human and ant communities…the humans apparently hoped to persuade the insects to respect the boundary and not enter the buildings”(10). Although there is a boundary set between these two species, the rice offering allowed them to co-exist rather than becoming a problem. To gain respect from the ants, the Balinese first gave the same respect and acknowledgment to the ants. The respect is generated from the desire to set this boundary or difference between the species. While the Balinese introduce a boundary, Siebert introduces connections to remove the barrier of difference between human and animal. In Siebert’s essay, obvious and subtle traces of the connections made between elephants and humans can be found throughout his piece. He methodically reveals aspects of the “fabric of elephant society” which explains how elephants are “profoundly social creatures” that have family structures and even “engage in intense mourning and burial rituals” (529 – 530). These features of the elephant way of life can, in affect, be considered synonymous with that of humans. By shedding light upon the connections found in behavior research about elephants and knowledge about trauma from human neuroscience, Siebert further strengthens this shared bond of human and elephant. It is not until these connections are made that researchers begin to develop ways to restore the elephant society and heal them. This shows how elephants become worthy of extensive research once humans are able to bridge the gap with understanding of this animal. In this manner, Siebert’s respect for elephants is through similarities. Siebert asserts that the solution relies on mankind’s willingness to accept our similarities with elephants rather than only seeing the differences. Although this may be true, what of other entities in this world that humans may not fully understand or can explain? Finding similarities in them would be impossible, yet do they still deserve the same level of respect?