Bowling for Columbine: Decision-Making as the Core of Human Survival

A wise man by the name of John F. Kennedy once said, “One person can make a difference, and everyone should try.” His knowledgeable words are truthful and factual as individuals’ choices can drastically alter another person's life. A person's egotistical decisions may play a drastic role in altering other persons lives and thus, resulting in them suffering negative consequences which is evident through various texts. In Lopate's “A Nonsmoker with a Smoker,” Lopate demonstrates that he is negatively affected due to his girlfriends selfish decision to smoke which leads to him suffering negative consequences. In addition, Michael Moore demonstrates that many Americans choose to make self-centered decisions for instance the NRA pushing the use of guns which leads to many families suffering loss and fear in Bowling for Columbine. Lastly, in “Lost in the Kitchen,” Dave Barry demonstrates that due to mens’ selfish decisions for instance, watching the Detroit Lions instead of watching over the kids results in negative consequences. Many individuals are motivated to make decisions which would benefit themselves but do not realize that their actions could alter another individual's life on a social and emotional aspect. Furthermore, people who knowingly make self-centred decisions with the purpose of benefiting themselves negatively impact those surrounding them, resulting in emotional and social consequences, which is evident throughout the essays “A Nonsmoker with a Smoker,” “Lost in the Kitchen,” and Bowling for Columbine.

Egocentric decisions cause the surrounding ones to suffer and it is portrayed in Lopate's essay “A Nonsmoker with a Smoker,” in which he demonstrates the relationship with a smoker. The smoker affects him negatively throughout the essay due to her decision to smoke cigarettes. Lopate does not smoke whereas his girlfriend, Helen, does smoke and she negatively affects him on a social and emotional level. For instance, he occasionally makes visits to her house and as he sees his girlfriend, look towards a pack of cigarettes, he makes her kiss him so that he is making contact with her lips instead of the pack of cigarettes which he describes as his competitor and then he states, “A lit cigarette puts a distance between us: it’s like a weapon in her hand, awakening in me a primitive fear of being burnt. My father used to smoke… he accidentally dropped a lit ash down my back… which epitomize to me the dangers of intimacy” (Lopate 2). Helen's addiction for cigarettes makes Lopate feel as if the cigarette makes him and his girlfriend distant from each other since he feels as if she loves the cigarettes more than she loves him. Also, the cigarettes embed fear into Loptate’s mind as he is afraid that he may lose Helen due to cigarettes and he is also terrified that the cigarettes will burn him. Thus, he is affected emotionally as he feels as if his wife loves cigarettes more than she loves him. He is constantly feeling as if he is going to get hurt when he is around his girlfriend as he thinks that being close to cigarettes is dangerous which causes him to suffer emotional consequences. Consequently, he is constantly fighting with his emotions as he is scared of being burnt by the cigarette and also, he is afraid that it is putting a distance between him and his girlfriend. Moving on, selfish decisions made by a person may impact many individuals socially as the individuals around the decision maker may have to pay consequences for actions that were not made by them. As he tries to understand the pleasure of smoking he has tried to smoke compassionate cigarettes to comprehend the feeling another individual would experience when he says, “Helen gets [a stubborn look] in her eyes when, despite the fact were a little late going somewhere, she turns to me in the car and says, ‘I need to buy a pack of cigarettes first’” (Lopate 2). Helen’s decision to go buy a pack of cigarettes causes Lopate to experience social issues as he has to “pay the price for our smugness” (Lopate 2). Also, it is disrespectful to show up to an event late which may cause him to feel embarrassment around his friends and the hosts of the event. Therefore, decisions made without any regard for other persons feelings can impact those individuals, socially and emotionally in an unpleasant manner.

Decisions which are not well thought out, result in individuals which you may love to suffer various consequences which is evident throughout “Lost in the Kitchen,” an essay by Dave Barry. For instance, while Barry was explaining that when it comes to helping out in the kitchen, man is “scum”, he goes onto state that, “Despite all that has been said in the past twenty years or so about sexual equality, most men make themselves as useful around the kitchen as ill-trained Labrador retrievers” (Barry 1). Men such as Barry who make decisions such as not helping their wives in the kitchen leads to their wives doing all the work. This causes the wives to suffer emotional consequences as they feel as if they have to do all the work in the house and sometimes they are unable to do everything such as taking care of the children. When men are given simple tasks such as taking care of the children, they are unable to perform those. Men such as Barry not assisting their wives in the kitchen results in the wives suffering emotional consequences. Furthermore, after feeling guilty for not helping out in the kitchen, him and his friend, Gene, ask Arlene what they can do to assist her and she kindly tells them to take care of the children by watching over them. Then he goes onto explain the fact that he cannot watch the Detroit Lions and take care of his kids at the same time. He makes a decision to watch the Detroit Lion as they are more entertaining to watch than the children. After a player got tackled they went on to decide whether the athlete was deceased, he states, “The children would have succeeded in injuring themselves or the dog, and this voice from behind the kitchen steam would call very patiently, ‘Gene, PLEASE watch the children’” (Barry 1). Barry decides to make an irrational decision of watching the Detroit Lions rather than watching the children; the children and the dog end up getting hurt. This decision of Barry results in the children and dog suffering physical and emotional consequences. They suffer physical consequences as they injure themselves while doing what kids do best, which is playing with their toys. The children would suffer emotional consequences as they would have to endure the pain of the injury. Barry at the moment wants to watch the Detroit Lions to benefit himself but his selfish decision to watch the Detroit Lions results in his kids being affected negatively due to his actions. Also, Barry comes to the realization that the egotistical decisions he makes are “awful” as his decisions cause dreadful incidents to occur which impacts the surrounding individuals in an unacceptable manner. As a result, decisions made by an individual will impact those around them drastically.

Americans deal with adverse incidents for decisions that were not made by themselves. Citizens all around America are filled with fear of suffering social and emotional consequences such as losing someone they love and this is demonstrated in Bowling for Columbine, a documentary made by Michael Moore. In this documentary, Michael Moore demonstrates that the NRA, president, and the news stations make decisions which result in many Americans suffering social and emotional consequences due to the fear embedded into their minds. For instance, after confronting Charlton Heston at Heston's house about gun control by imposing as an NRA member, Michael Moore states that “[He] walked back into the real world. To America living and breathing in fear. Where gun sales are now at an all record high. And where, in the end, it all comes back to ‘Bowling for Columbine’” (Moore 2002). The fear in Americans motivates them to buy guns to feel safe just as Charlton Heston does, even though he has never been robbed. Fear is embedded into Americans due to the media continuously twisting stories to make them sound terrifying and this encourages citizens to go out and buy guns. Also, this contributes to emotional suffering as Americans deal with the fear of bad incidents occurring, for instance, the Columbine Massacre. Thus, the citizens feel as if obtaining guns will make matters better but it makes everything much more complicated. It makes everything worse as guns would be easily accessible and so results in individuals making decisions which affect the surrounding individuals negatively in an emotional manner. Moving on, decisions made by other individuals like the president and the NRA leads to innocent lives being taken and, innocent people like Marilyn Manson being blamed for dreadful incidents. For instance, Michael Moore is sitting in an interview talking to Marilyn Manson after the backlash Marilyn Manson got from the Columbine Massacre. The blame is thrown onto Marilyn Manson for the Columbine Massacre by ignorant Americans as he makes rock and roll music which promotes violence and hate which, Americans believe motivates the individuals in the massacre to cause the destruction. Although his music may have played a slight role in the massacre, he should not be entirely blamed for the situation like the one in fault in the NRA. During this interview Marilyn Manson goes on to state, The two by-products of that whole tragedy were, violence in entertainment, and gun control…. the President was shooting bombs overseas, yet I'm a bad guy….who is a bigger influence, the President or Marilyn Manson? I'd like to think me, but I'm going to go with the President. (Moore 2002)

Marilyn Manson goes onto demonstrate that the President and the NRA should be held accountable for the traumatizing massacre which occurred. The President plays a massive role in incorporating violence and fear into the media which leads to emotional consequences. Also, the NRA tremendously contributes towards many American citizens facing emotional consequences. Poor gun control leads to tragic incidents such as the Columbine massacre as the guns are easily accessible. This all ties back to the fact that decisions made by others like the NRA leads to enduring of emotional consequences by other individuals. Also, it can be said that due to low gun control many citizens may undergo social consequences as they cannot trust their own foes as they may decide to make poor decisions which may affect them or their family members. So, decisions made by the President for instance, bombing other countries and the NRA wanting guns, many citizens are affected due to their self-centred decisions. Therefore decisions made by individuals affect those around them, emotionally and socially, more than themselves as the decisions benefit them.

To sum up, an individual decision impacts those surrounding them negatively on a social and emotional manner. It is human nature to make decisions which will aid in one's survival and ego even though it may hurt the ones around the decision maker which is evident in Bowling for Columbine, “Lost in the Kitchen,” and “A Nonsmoker with a Smoker.” However, decisions made by an individual may impact themselves as well but usually, decisions are made to benefit one. So, it is not the case that an individual's decisions will impact themselves more than others. It is an instinct to make a decision which will benefit a person, and it will alter another individual life emotionally and socially. Therefore, those surrounding a decision maker are affected more than the decision maker.