Staying Alive

for those of you who dont know, I am currently trying to obtain a bachelors degree in english with a focus in creative writing. My one writing class this semester is creative non-fiction. My professor's name is Dennis Covington. I think he is a beautiful writer and a very intelligent man. Interesting too. Our assignment for today was to read an exerpt from Alive. You know the story about the plane that crashes in the Andies and the guys end up eating people in order to stay alive. Anyway he asked us to write out a reponse to the part of the story we read and say what we would do if it was the same situation. My response went a little something like this:

Its easy to say I would never eat people. Im not fond of the idea but I think that if it came down to it I would. I would much rather eat a friend than a complete stranger if I could choose. I say this because I would be able to explain to my friends family why I ate their loved one. I would be able to help them understand that I did it out of utter desperation. I think it would have more closure than eating a complete stranger. If you ate a stranger lord only knows what their family would say. They might think you were a savage or dicusting person, and I would have this void in me with the lack of finality that explaining why I did it would bring. The only reason I would ever consider eating a person would be for survival and survival only. Of course there are questions that arise out of making the decision to eat people. Could I physically pull apart another human beings body? perpare it to eat? eat it raw if neccessary? The answers to all of these from a girl sitting in an air conditioned room, surrounded by intelligent, well educated people, with plenty to eat is no. From where I am now, I would say that I can not physically pick apart another person's body or cook it or eat it raw, the thought of it churns my stomach. Come to think of it, I dont even know what part of the person would be best to eat, which part, if any holds the most nutritional value so that I could eat as little people as possible. Also by eating people, am I just prolonging the enevitable? If by eating these people would I be able to ward of death long enough to be found or would I die any way? And if I did die would I be the next to be eaten by my survivors? But I think if it really came down to it, and I was stranded in the andies with nothing to eat, straving and freezing to death, I would eat the people who died around me. But really even the thought of eating bugs makes me want to puke....let alone people.