Worlds Colliding

My Blogging Experience

meg3212 — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 18:47:18 +0000

The blogging assignment has been interesting to me because I have never created a blog before, or had much experience in the blogging world. I thought that it made an impact on me and the materials that we were reading because it forced me to reevaluate the reading and then try to connect it to something that is current in today’s society. I often found myself reflecting a particular subject or idea several times. It was also interesting to see other people comment on my blog posts. It made it seem like I was writing them for a purpose or audience. I’m not sure that I will continue my war blog, but it definitely opened up the possibilities as to creating another type of blog, where I can draw conclusions and reflect on certain events or ideas. I will however, continue using the RSS feeds on my Google Reader. I also had never been introduced to this until this class. I have used it now for several other classes, and found it very useful and an effective use of my time. I especially enjoyed using this tool for our blog posts because it gave me a more specific search field.

My Comments

meg3212 — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 14:48:27 +0000

Casualties of War

Small Connections to Big Problems…

Did you Know that…

Helbotz’s Blog

Three Little Birds

The Impurification of Precious Bodily Fluids

Thin Blue Line

From the Other World

Words, Not War Blog

Our Boots Aren’t Muddy

Loss of Innocence

meg3212 — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 23:01:02 +0000

What struck me most when I read, Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier, was the ongoing theme of the young boys of the villages who were forced to give up their childhood. The war that took over their lives forced the children to flee from their families, friends, homes, and schools. The main character in the story, Ishmael Beah was only 12 at the time the war invaded his village. He lost his family and his home in one day. He was forced to see horrific and terrifying murders, deaths of children, and torture inflicted on various civilians. He somehow managed to escape with a few other boys and began his long journey, not really knowing where he was running to. He slept in the forests, hid most of his days in fear and starvation.

When he finally reached a village that he believed to be safe, the army men forced the young teen boys to become soldiers as well to fight off the rebels. At first, Beah was terrified of killing another human being. The soldiers motivated the young boys by telling them that the rebels they will be killing are responsible for killing their families. After the first day or two in the forest fighting, Beah had become immune to the killing, and his soul seemed to become hardened. His days were from then on filled with killing, raiding villages, stealing goods, doing drugs, and watching war movies. It seemed as though he knew nothing but war and seemed to get used to it somehow. In the book, he writes,

“The five men were lined up in front of us on the training ground with their hands tied. We were suppose to slice their throats on the corporals command. ….I didn’t feel a thing for him, didn’t think much about what I was doing. I just waited for the corporals order. The prisoner was simply another rebel who was responsible for the death of my family, as I had come to truly believe. ”

I was curious about the idea of boy soldiers who are forced to fight in a war at such a young age, and wondered where else in the world this has or is happening. According to an article titled, Innocence Lost: the Child Soldiers Forced to Murder. A young boy in eastern Congo, ten years of age, was forced to become a soldier at such a young age. Although he survived, he faced traumatic events tat will always haunt him as he attempts to enter back in to civilian life.

Beah, I. A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier. p. 124

Innocence Lost: the Child Soldiers Forced to Murder. Dec, 2008 http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/africa/innocence-lost-the-child-soldiers-forced-to-murder-1052026.html

Restoring Hope

meg3212 — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 00:24:12 +0000

The young boys from the novel, A long Way Gone, had gone through and seen with their own eyes horrific events that seem to replay and torment their every thought. The violence they encountered on a daily basis eventually turned them into hardened souls who resorted to fighting as a means of communication or a way to solve any problem. At one point in the book, the main character, Ishmael Beah actually takes joy in killing the rebels. He thrives on the raids, capture and pure killing. He soon is addicted to various drugs, that seem to numb him to the pain that surrounds him. In the book, Beah writes,

“The villages that we captured and turned into our bases as we went along the forests that we slept in became my home. My squad was my family, my gun was my provider and protector, and my rule was to kill or be killed. The extent of my thoughts didn’t go much beyond that. we had been fighting for over two years, and killing had become a daily activity. I felt no pity for anyone. My childhood had gone by without my knowing, and it seemed as if my heart had frozen.”

One might wonder how these young, once so innocent boys could ever return to normalcy in their life, once the war was over? In order to do so, they must have faith in themselves that they will recover after seeing and doing such terrible things.

I found an NPR, This I Believe podcast that discusses the ability of soldiers or veterans to return to their lives after the terrible things they endured during war. The speaker is a psychologist who has listened to war veterans talk about how they are trapped between feelings of numbness and rage. The main point of the message was for the soldiers to have hope in themselves that they can and will be resilient and come back from this to have a happy life.

Beah, I. A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier, p. 126

Schmidt, J. This I Believe Podcast: Resilience is a Gift, Nov. 12, 2007: http://www.google.com/reader/view/?hl=en&tab=wy#search/returning%20from%20war/17

Reasons for Joining the Military

meg3212 — Sun, 12 Apr 2009 23:56:52 +0000

I recently came across an article that showed how the number of people joining the military is on the rise, mostly due to high unemployment. This article caught my eye, because after reading and discussing the book, The Things they Carried, by Tim O’Brien, we discussed how Tim did not want anything to do with the war. He thought seriously about fleeing to Canada and hiding out until the war in Vietnam was over. O’Brien thought that by joining the military in fighting this war was the coward thing to do. He writes,

“The day was cloudy. I passed through the towns with familiar names, through the pine forests, and down to the prairie, and then to Vietnam, where I was a soldier, and then home again. I survived, but it’s not a happy ending. I was a coward. I went to the war.”

To me, this seemed so backward to what I or today’s society would normally think. If someone today was drafted and was seriously thinking of running away, I would think they were a coward for not wanting tof fight for this country.

The movie, Born on the Fourth of July, the main character, Ron, joined the military for his own specific reasons. To me, it seemed like he did it to have the image of being strong and to prove to his family, friends, and community that he was worth something. Unlike O’brian, Ron might of felt like a coward if he did not join the war. He also did not understand his friends when they said they would rather stay home and go to college, rather than going to Vietnam to help fight in the war.

The article that I found was from the New York Times, where it discussed how in this war, more and more people are joining the military for reasons other than being forced by the draft, or for the only reason of wanting to show courage and fight for the country. Instead, the military recruitment is on a rise for two main reasons. One is that unemployment rates are rising, and they are not able to find a steady job that can provide for their families. The military offers them a sense of security in a job and a paycheck. Other young men and women joined because they could not get student loans to pay for college. The other main reason for rising military occupants is that the violence in the war zones seemed to have decreased. People are not viewing this war as dangerous as it once was, which is increasing their motivation for joining some branch of the military.

O’Brian, T. The Things they Carried, p.61

Alveraz, L. More Americans Joining the Military as Jobs Dwindle, Jan. 18, 2009, http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/19/us/19recruits.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1

Something to Fight For

meg3212 — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 20:26:54 +0000

After reading Elie Wiesel’s, Night, I thought about what carried Elie through those terrible times in the concentration camps. Throughout the book, he wrote about his faith andhow it, for the most part, carried him through the events of the Holocaust. Sometimes, he questioned his faith, and sometimes it was what got him through the days.

I began to wonder if there is any relation to the current war in Iraq. I wondered if there are soldiers from the United States that share the same strength to get them through the war? Or, if it is something else, like their family, friends, or pride for their country?

I found a letter from a New England soldier who was recently killed in the war on his first day back from leave. His mother shared his letter, in which her son expressed why he was a soldier and where his source of strength came from. He wrote,

“I am not a robot. i am not blind or ignorant to the state of the world or the implications of the “war on terrorism.” i know that our leaders have made mistakes in the handling of a very sensitive situation, but do not for one second think that you can make me lose faith in what we, meaning America’s sons, daughters, fathers, and mothers in uniform are doing.”

I thought that this part of this letter expressed his desire to serve in the military. This excerpt gave me a sense of purpose for this soldier, and that he truly beleived that he was there for a reason, and that is what got him through the days overseas at war.

He goes on to say that,

“I am a proud American. I believe that my country allows me to live my life more or less however I want to, and believe me, I have seen what the alternative of that looks like.”

Lastly, this part of his letter informs me that he is there fighting for a reason. If soldiers fighting in the Iraq War did not have solid reasons for being there, then they would feel lost, used and meaningless. Bringing this back to Night, I believe that Elie must have had some of those similar strengths to believe that he was going to survive this battle, even though he was a victim of the concentration camps. It was still important for him to have something to fight for.

Slain Beverly Soldier Explained Why He Served, October 17, 2008: http://www.boston.com/news/local/breaking_news/2008/10/slain_beverly_s.html?p1=Well_MostPop_Emailed5

Elie Weisel, Night

The Impact of a Graphic Novel

meg3212 — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 19:52:01 +0000

Our class read the graphic novel, Maus, recently. I thought that the book was very interesting in how it portrayed the story of the Holocaust. This book was different than any other book that I have read about the Holocaust. First, it was in all comical drawings, with the Jews being mice, the Nazis being cats. At first, I questioned the seriousness of this book. I did not think that a graphic novel could properly describe the events that occured during that time. However, after reading it, I was very surprised at how my view and opinions changed. I thought that this book was so interesting because even though you were reading a comic book about the Holocaust, I was still able to take the characters and the storyline seriously. I found myself forgetting that the book was a comic, rather than a meaningful story.

In fact, I believe that the comics and the general look of all of the characters allowed me to put my own thoughts on what was happeneing. the book opened itself up to more imagination, in my opinion. The pictures throughout the book were sometimes very simple and ordinary, which allowed me to put my own thoughts and ideas into the story.

This sort of book made me think about how this terrible event, depicted as a cartoon with mice and cats, could make such a huge impact on me and others. I wondered if other serious events or wars could be depicted in this same fashion? I believe that the reason this book was such a success was because there is a big enough gap between the events of the Holocaust and my generation. For example, I do not think that people in today’s society could handle a graphic novel about the War in Iraq, or maybe even the Vietnam War. In a recent article in the New York Times, an article talks about a suicide bomber who killed 33 people in Baghdad. My question is, can the events that we are reading about right now, like the article in the NYT, be made into a graphic novel someday down the road? I believe that if the story of the Holocaust can be made into a graphic novel, then it is not impossible for another serious event, like the Iraq War or Vietnam War, to be made into a graphic novel, like Maus. The key is to have the right timing. If an author decided to make a comic about today’s war, then it would be completely inappropriate and disturbing. People would not relate to it and it would not create an impact, as Maus does in our generation.

Art Speigelman, Maus

Alissa Rubin, Marc Santora, Bomber Kills Dozens in Iraq as Fears of New Violence Rise, March 10, 2009: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/11/world/middleeast/11iraq.html

Remembering the Holocaust

meg3212 — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 22:00:11 +0000

After we watched the documentaries about the Holocaust, I was curious about the different ways the general public views or is educated about this horrific event. Personally, I have seen a few films that deal with the holocaust, some as documentaries, some as Hollywood films. Like any movie, there is usually a general message that the audience gains after viewing the film. Even after we watched the wordless, sometimes even silent film by Alfred Hitchcock, I still gained a different perspective or feeling toward the holocaust, that I did not have before.

I thought it was interesting that a film that is using reels of footage, with no words spoken can have a very powerful impact on a person. It made me think of all of the various styles of films that portray the story of the holocaust, and how even today, there are big Hollywood movies being made to show the history of that time.

The question that I am asking is, can a person become educated through a hollywood film of the holocaust? Or, should a person be referring to only documentaries, like the Alfred Hitchcock film, we viewed in class? In a history class, we are debating this very issue; Do Hollywood filmmakers have a responsibility to create a fully accurate and authentic film about the holocaust? Since Hollywood firms often mix fact and fiction, some are quick to criticize the true history behind the movie.

In an article, Good Germans and Uplifting Uprisings: Hollywood’s take on the Holocaust, Ben Crair analyzes all of the past and very recent films that share the central theme of the holocaust. Just in the last year, there have been several movies that attempt to tell the history in different ways of the event. For instance, there was, The Reader, Valkyrie, Defiance, The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, Good, and Adam Resurrected. Although they all share the same theme, do they all send a powerful message about the holocaust, the same way Alfred Hitchcock’s documentary did?

The documentary by Hitchcock, was so drastically different than any other film or documentary I’ve seen, and somehow it made more of an impact on me, than any other film. I believe that the lack of dialogue forced me to think about the images more in depth. Even though there was a narrator, most of the time, I was reflecting on what I saw, and was able to take it in on a deeper level.

Ben Crair, http://www.slate.com/id/2207553/pagenum/all/#p2

The Strength to go on

meg3212 — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 21:09:17 +0000

After reading Vera Britton’s testomony to her struggles and hardships during her time as a nurse during WWI, I often wondered where she found her strength to go on. I especially had this thought after he long time boyfriend, Roland was killed just two days before seeing her. In Vera’s life, Roland was the only positive thing, and after he died, it seems as though she would not be able to go on with her daily routine. However, she does find testrength to make it through. Vera wrote about how she wondered if it was heroism or folly that killed Roldand. She was so desperatly hoping it was herosim becasuethat would somehow make it easier to justify and grasp. She wrote,

“All heroism, I argued desperately in my diary, is to a certain extent unnecessary from a purely utilitarian point of view….But even herosim means something infintely greater and finer, even if less praticale, than just avoiding blame, and doing one’s exact, sterotyped duty and no more.”

Vera often used the idea that if he was killed in a heroic act of duty, then it would be easier to accept ans swallow his death. This makes me wonder how other girlfriends, wives, sisters, brothers, etc. deal with the death of a loved one who is killed in our current war. A woman named Dena, now living in Nebraska, recently lost her husband on December 1st from wounds he got while fighting . Her husband left behind his wife, Dena and his two young daughters. Dena created a blogto update family and friends of their progress and their new life since Rob passed away. As I was reading her recent posts, what struck me the most, was her upbeat attitude and her willingness and strong sense of need to move forward. I believethat Dena is getting her strength from God, and from knowing that he died a hero. She wrote,

“Tomorrow is going to be tough. But, Rob died doing what he loved and what he believed in and I am so proud of him. “

Both women used the idea of herosim to help them get through their difficult times. Vera and Dena both share a strength to go on, even after the love of their lives was taken from them. I am in awe at the amount of strength and endurance both of these women had in such devastating times. After reading and reflecting on both a experience, I wondered how i would deal with such a loss. I only hope that I can find the strength to carry on like these, and so many other family members do.

Britton, Vera. Testament of Youth, pg 243

The Yllescas Family Blog, http://yllescasfamily.blogspot.com/

For the Love of War

meg3212 — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 19:36:49 +0000

After reading Rupert Brooke’s poem, The Soldier, I gained a sense of love for his country and for what the war stood for. Compared to some of the other themes that the war poems portray, about how awful and dreadful the war is, this poem seemed to have a sense of pride for fighting and for his country. Because Brooke died in the early years of the war, could have effected his attitude and tone towards the war. In The Soldier, he writes:

If I should die, think only this of me:

That there’s some corner of a foreign field

That is forever England. There shall be

In that rich earth a richer dust concealed;

A dust whome England bore, shaped, made aware

Gave, once, her flowers to love, her ways to roam,

A body of Englans’s, breathing English air,

Washed by the rivers, blest by the suns of home.

And think, this heart, all evil shed away,

A pulse in the eternal mind, no less

Gives somewhere back the thoughts by England given;

Her sights and sounds; dream happy as her day;

And laughter, learnt of friends, an gentleness,

In hearts at peace, under an English heaven.

After searching for articles, or diaries on the effects of wars on soldiers, I found one blog from a soldier who gave me a similar sense of pride and satisfaction from war, although it was for different reasons that Brooke. In the blog called, The Rollercoaster of War, a soldier talks about his combat experience. Smith’s world was soon taken over by bombings and gun battles everyday. Soon, the world outside of war seemed so insignificant to him. He states,

“Though it is difficult to explain why, I did not want to leave Iraq: I felt so grafted to the war, and the world beyond it seemed so insignificant. I remember a similar feeling as I left no man’s land between the Croatian and Serb armies back in 1995. But it was nothing compared with what I felt when my plane began the steep, ground fire-evasive, climb-out over Baghdad International Airport last week.”

Smith admits in his blog that there is an addiction to combat war, he writes:

”That is the most basic instinct of man. We live with fleeing or fighting and you have gone right in to the eyes of the fight. You will hear from so many that you are ‘out of your mind’ and ‘why did you go there?’ But only you will know why you did and why you miss it, because it is impossible to explain. It is something more than just adrenaline. There is a plaque in the training area of the [SEAL] teams that says, ‘Once man has hunted man, he will always hunger for it.’ Read whatever you want into that, but you are closer to understanding that than most will ever be.”

Brooke’s poem and this blog offer similar view points and attitudes toward the war. Brooke’s describes his loyalty to the war through his love for his country. Smith talks about the war with a similar attitude, only he enjoys how combat makes him feel as a man. It is interesting to see the similarities as well as differences with World War I and the current war in Iraq.

Brooke, Rupert: The Soldier, World War One British Poets, pg 3.

Smith, Thomas W Jr., “The Rollercoaster of War, 2007, http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=M2FjZTRiMzg2OWNkODZkNjM2ZDRjNGM3MmRhZmI4MjY=