Last part of LM

The difference between a rational mind and a sympathetic mind is very distinguishable. A person with a rational mind doesn't pay much attention to the feelings of others or the effect that his or her actions will have on people. They try to look at what the best decision is at this moment and act upon it. A person with a sympathetic mind cares more about the feelings of the people they are affecting. They will try to come up with the best solution that will help their situation but at the same time try not to deliberately hurt other people. An example that Reece uses to describe a rational mind is after he files the complaint and is taking on a tour of the facility. The part on page 220 when he talks about the hallow fills and how they are not 100% durable rock, and because of this the drainage from the fills is affecting the water supply. He goes on to talk about how the officials at certain agencies continue to produce illegal permits knowing that the fills are not what they should be. An example that he uses for the sympathetic mind is in the chapter that he talks about Robbert Kennedy's visit to Kentucky. Robbert Kennedy felt strongly enough to visit Kentucky and try to raise awareness to the trouble that the coal mining was creating. He could have just over looked it and went on to speak somewhere else but he knew by speaking there he had a chance to do something good and help out the people effected by it.

The quote that stood out to me the most in the conclusion of Lost Mountain was on page 231 when Reece stated "Why are we as Americans so stubbornly immune to understanding the world as something miraculous, as something imbued with spirit, as something worth preserving?" Although this quote would be considered on the short side, i feel that it packs a big punch. It opened my eyes to the fact that me along with most Americans do not realize how beautiful of a country we live in. We all know that there wont be many changes in our environment during our lifetime, but what about the people that come hundreds of years after us. We should all want people that come after us to experience the same wonderful country that we were able to experience and to see the many different things that we take for granted on a daily basis. If we don't decide to do something about this, we will be destroying our country for the generations that come after us.