Son, Daughter, Brother, Sister, Husband, Wife, Father, Mother
April 15, 2015
In my American History class we began talking about World War II and in my English class we started reading "The Things They Carried" By Tim O'Brien which is centered around Vietnam. The idea of war has always been a very prominent idea in my life. I was born on an American base in Kaiserslautern, Germany because my dad was in Army. I grew up with the idea in my head that any day we could get notified that my dad was dead. I had friends mom's, dad's, brother's, or sister's that had died and the possibility was always there. I don't have a personal relationship with my dad, the deployments and his work always got in the way so while he missed birthdays, school accomplishments and all the "firsts" you could think of, I was too busy trying to distract myself of his absence to notice his absence.
When I think of war, I think of young men and women dying. I think of the plenty of goodbye-ceremonies I went through. I think of funerals. I think of FRG meetings filled with countless ideas from spouses trying to support the soldiers but really just trying to give themselves something to do. War is a very personal topic. I believe it's a privilege to the civilians to have such a dedicated force, but sometimes I wonder if it's a privilege to the individual that served and is forever changed. Yes, it's their choice to join. And this country prides itself as an all volunteer-based military. But war changes people. The countless soldiers that come home and experience mental disorders, physical pain, emotional pain... it's all unimaginable.
My English teacher intriguingly brought to my attention that "when children argue with adults, they tend to lose because their reasons are rooted in emotions while most adults are rooted in logic." War and the military are emotional trigger topics for me. It makes me sad to think of people dying. When battle scenes appear in movies, I get very sad because I just think that even if it is fiction, there's a possibility that this did happen to someone. In historical fiction movies, it's hard to separate the fact that in World War II 60 million people died. Although statistics vary from 50-80+ million people, that's approximately 3% of the population. We were given these discussion questions and put into groups, one of the questions asked if there any war can be just. I don't think it can. War leads into death. Strip away the reasons and both sides still loose people. Now imagine telling someone's family that their son, daughter, husband, wife, father, or mother just died in war. It won't ever be just when people die. Every single life is precious. There's no way. And war just makes me very sad. It makes me sad that incredible and intelligent people are taken away because of war. I, personally, grew up surrounded with the idea of war. My generation has grown up with the concept of war not too far from their minds. I was born September 26, 1998 and I was 3 years old when 9/11 occurred. It's been spiriling since then. I don't know if there's much hope for the future, but I really hope there is.
Every single life is precious. Every life matters.
*All photos were taken from D.C. at the World War II Memorial or Arlington Cemetary when I visited in 2011*
Okay, interesting topic here. Like it. Before i begin, it is "lose," not "loose."
ReplyDeleteAnyway, is there any war that is "just?" While it is tragic that lives are lost, there have been wars before that have been just. The American Civil War was one of those wars. The South wanted to separate from the North and wanted Slavery to continue. Had there been no war, had the North just allowed the South to go away, the future for African-Americans would look totally different. You have to look at the goal of a war. The goal of WW1 and WW2, for us, was to prevent evil from spreading around the world. There is no war without enemies. Germany didn't want a war, they wanted to take over. It was up to us and other countries to go to war with Germany.
War is a terrible thing, but there are necessary ones (American Revolution), while also completely unnecessary ones (Vietnam is the huge example).
And I also want to add in that the world is in a lot better shape than it used to be. There is hope for the future because our greatest enemies, the Middle East, does not compare to the Germans of the World Wars, or the British Global Empire, or the Mongols, or the Romans. The closer you get to the origin of Earth, the worse and more violent it is. There is hope. This war is nothing compared to what the world has seen.
And I also disagree that every life is precious. There are grand exceptions to that statement. Hitler, Stalin, Vlad The Impailer, countless Roman Emperors, etc. If we didn't have war, then evil people like these guys would rule the world. Remember, a peaceful country doesn't just go in and start a war. Usually, an enemy strikes first and the "good guys," retaliate.
ewww...so many dumb grammatical errors...wtf...ignore my first sentence then lol
DeleteAnon 9:31
DeleteFirst, haha thanks for the correction. Second, I completely appreciate this comment. I agree that there are evil people in the world, obviously. And I'm certainly not saying that there weren't wars that had just cause, but at the same time I don't think the wars themselves are necessarily just. War is hard to talk about because (most of the time) both sides have logical perspectives depending on that particular sides background. There were some wars that changed the world for the better, such as the Civil War as you noted. And thankfully, the world is in better shape as you said. As a personal statement, I still believe lives are precious. Are there plenty of evil people in the world that don't deserve this precious life? Who am I to say that? I have very particular and maybe even peculiar opinions on death (which I may post about another time) but the world is not perfect and people aren't either. I understand everything you say, and I appreciate your perspective :)
Also, is Anon 9:33 the same person ? Very different writing haha but it's hard to differentiate anonymous comments from each other.