The Experience of War Journal

Humanities 1100-023 MW 4:00-5:20

Matthew Aamodt

1. My Brother, You Must Not Die by Yosano Akiko The Questions is simple, Is dying worth it? Should we risk our own lives to defend a country that does not appreciate us until we are dead and have left many loved ones behind? The author clearly shows this concern by his reminding of life out of the war. Yosano mentions about his mother, and how worried she is about her little boy dying. Since this past autumn, your aged mother, widowed, has been pathetic in her grief, now shes sent her son away and keeps the house alone. Even in this Secure and joyful reign her white hairs increase He also mentions about the newlywed wife sitting at home crying because she does not know what to do with her husband at war. Weeping in the shadow of the shop curain, your young bride of but ten months- have your forgotten her? Do you not yearn for her? The mental image of home and peace in a world of hate and killing is a sad moment in the lives of military. Putting the image into the head of his brother gives him a stronger feeling of going home. It is not a natural feeling to want to kill somebody, no matter what they have done. That is why military is almost tortured and abused to the point of demoralizing so that when the moment comes the enemy is no longer a human but rather a nobody. I do have to agree when he says Let the Emperor himself go off to war in death is your glory. I feel that our leaders should be the ones on the front lines leading us. Being in that position will give them a different idea of war. If they are willing to risk their own lives to defend than we will follow, but if he not willing to risk his own life than why should we.

Speech to the Third Army: the Unabridged Version by George Patton General Pattons speech confirms my idea of demoralizing. It clearly shows and makes the statement that real men like to fight. Why do real men like to fight? I think it is the opposite real men like peace. We do not need to fight. Through his whole speech, he refers to the Germans as son-of-an-asshole-bitch or as rats, and many other names. The whole point in doing this is to create that mindset in his men that they are nobodies. Were they nobodies? Probably not. They were men with families, children maybe grandchildren. So why lie. It is not natural for men to kill. Demoralization is necessary. Even General Patton recognizes the natural want to be home and safe. He says Sure, we want to go home. We want this war over with. The quickest way to get it over with is to go get the bastards who started it. The quicker they are whipped, the quicker we can go home. We each have two sides of us. We have our peaceful loving side, and our mean aggressive side. In war love cannot exist. General Patton prepared his men for that, and that is why they were so successful.

The End and The Beginning by Wislawa Szymborska The end of the war is only the beginning of the actual effects. After the war ends who is in charge of cleaning up afterwards. Where do all the bodies go, and who rebuilds what was once there. The time to repair starts when the fighting is over. Somebody has to push the rubble to the side of the road, so the corpse-filled wagons can pass. I have always wondered who cleaned up afterwards. For those that do clean up, they still recall the way it was. The memories that once

existed , are now replaced with war and death. What thoughts and feelings run through their heads as they are repairing and cleaning? To see the blood and horror in the world that you live leaves memories. What effect does that have on people? They are probably the ones who do not support war. They have seen what war does to the lives of those around you. If only the leaders, the ones in charge, would go and clean up after one war. Would they want to fight again? If the war was on our land and surrounding our people would they feel the same?

Vietnam: What I Remember by David W. Powell

War is never peaceful. War has major side effects on the minds of those in it. To some it is just cruel. In Vietnam: What I Remember the author sees war from a different point of view. He watches as all of his comrades do horrible cruel things. I imagine him asking himself how is it that someone can become so cruel? How can you look somebody in the eye and truly think that they are not worth living. In the poem, he refers to many cruelties that he saw. He saw marines break open the skull of a dead Viet Cong with a large rock. He saw marines intentionally shoot a girl four or six years of age. He observed two captured nurses being beaten and raped by marines. He witnessed a girl who was Eifle-butted in the face when she would not move away. He watched as the marines Strangled a captured Viet Cong for refusing to talk to an interpreter. Watched a marine laugh as he stepped on the chest of a dead Viet Cong and watched blood squirt out of the enemys wounds. If we were in the real world these acts would put is in jail. If we were in the real world these kind of things would make people think that we had mental issues. Just because it is in war is it ok? I do understand that in

war one must demoralize the other in order to be able to kill them without feeling. On the other hand though I think the enjoyment of an others pain and suffering is not human. When the military kills he does it for his country, when he murders he does it for himself. Personally, I could never come to kill another, no matter the circumstances, because if I did I would be tormented for the rest of my life with the image of him /her.

2.

Spideys vs Batmenians Being President of the Spideys it has been apparent for many years that the Batmenians have attacked us and killed our kind. And for what, for food? This needs to come to an end. My Spidey Senses Buero have informed me of the Batmenians plan to attack us to prepare for the winter. We have two choices we can either die or we can defend our kind. Will it be worth the casualties of fellow Spideys? Why yes, if we can take down the Batmenians we will no longer live in fear, and we can replenish the earth. We will join the Spideys of all regions, from farms to street cities, from houses to sewages, we must defend our lives. We will inform them of the Batmenians attack on us. We will have rallies with Fresh Fly dessert. We will show videos of our kind prevailing in this world. We must join as one. The SSS(Secret Spidey Scenes) have discovered the final get-together location of the Batmenians before their winter feasting on us. We have created a plan of torture. While they are sleeping during the day, we will web a trap for them so tight that they will not be able to fly out and eat. Eventually they will starve to death in the cave and we will have victory over our enemy.

3.

What is Truth 'Truth,' it has been said, 'is the first casualty of war. "Among the calamities of war may be justly numbered the diminution of the love of truth, by the falsehoods which interest dictates and credulity encourages." Is war really war without death, or is it just simply an argument? Personally, I feel that for war to be war somebody has to die. War is the defense of your rights and country towards an enemy. Whom do we consider enemies? Is the enemy the other group of people who kill the first person? Are the somebody who believes in different things than we do? All these questions, and no correct answer. Many of these are simply our opinions. When it comes to reporting war, what do we report? Do we talk about deaths, reasoning, or gains? Without death, is there anything to report? We can talk about our beliefs all day, but it is not until somebody dies that we come together and defend our country. Media has such a big effect on our views. When nobody reports on the deaths of our country, we tend to not think about others or our country. But when that first news report comes out about how another country has attacked us and killed one of our beloved, then we come together to destroy the enemy. It is only the death of one of our own, that brings us to war. In 9/11 they assumes that the Islamic were at cause and what did we do? We invaded and took over the whole government. On the other hand, when Rwanda was having a genocide was there an American death? No, and for that we did not invade. Thinking about it, I wonder if that is why the lie about a ship being attacked outside of Vietnam came about. Somebody felt that we needed to invade, but knowing that only death would make it happen, lied about

casualties on an American ship. We would not know of such things without that one media report. Does war start with the first casualty? I agree 100%.

4. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3owa7c-eFM0 Coming Home by John Legend Instead of singing about how happy he is for serving our country, he focuses on coming home. The song is a letter written from a marine to his girlfriend at home. He repeats the phrase Ill be coming home. He wishes that he could be back home not in the war. He says I learned enough from my mistakes. He knows that the war will never end. So he is writing his loved ones asking if they will wait for him. In his letter he lets them know how he has felt. We fight to stay alive, But somebodys got to die. If he knows somebody has to die, than how does he know it wont be him. The whole song is about him returning home, but there is no promise. A new year, a new enemy. Another soldier gone to war. Another story told before. Now its told again War is war, in different places but essentially the same thing. We go we kill and get killed, and for what? He mentions that it is the same story over and over, in different years in different places. All war does is effect the mindset of our citizens. Were holding on to when we used to dare to dream. The thought of not being able to dream, would haunt the minds of many. In the beginning everybody wants to fight for their country, but at the end they want to be home again back where they belong.

http://www.metrolyrics.com/coming-home-lyrics-john-legend.html A father waits upon a son A mother prays for his return I just called to see If you still have a place for me We know that life took us apart But youre still within my heart I go to sleep And feel your spirit next to me Ill make it home again I pray youll fall in love again Just say youll entertain the possibility I learned enough from my mistakes Learned from all I didnt say Wont you wait for me? It may be long to get me there Feels like Ive been everywhere But someday Ill be coming home Round and round the world will spin Oh, the circle never ends So you know that Ill be coming home We fight to stay alive But somebodys got to die Its so strange to me A new year, a new enemy Another soldier gone to war Another story told before Now its told again It seems the wars will never end Well make it home again Back where we belong again Were holding on to when We used to dare to dream We pray, we live to see Another day in history Yes, we still believe It may be long to get me there Feels like Ive been everywhere But someday Ill be coming home Round and round the world will spin Oh, the circle never ends So you know that Ill be coming home Im coming, Im coming, Im coming Im coming, Im coming, Im coming You know that Ill be coming home Im coming, Im coming, Im coming Im coming, Im coming, Im coming You know that Ill be coming home It may be long to get me there Feels like Ive been everywhere But someday Ill be coming home Round and round the world will spin Oh, the circle never ends So you know that Ill be coming home

http://www.stockvault.net/blog/photography/30-war-and-suffering-themed-photographs/ In the War by Uda Dennie

The picture is interesting because of the fact that it is a photographer not a marine. I have always wondered how photographers can take pictures and not be shot. The picture shows that the photographer is not wearing any armor. He is actually wearing a little nicer clothes, not clothes for war. This makes me feel like in war it does not matter who you are, or what you are wearing. If you are part of the enemies group, you put yourself at risk. War is chaotic. People try to convince others that it is organized but in the end, it is just killing.

Biography

Akiko, Yosano. "My Brother, You Must Not Die." It Begins with Our Question, A Thematic Introduction to the Humanities. Ed. Paul Allen and Ed. Jennifer Bauman. Plymouth, MI: Hayden-McNeil Publishing, 2013. 647. Print. Patton, George. "Speech to the Third Army: The Unabridged Version." It Begins with Our Question, A Thematic Introduction to the Humanities. Ed. Paul Allen and Ed. Jennifer Bauman. Plymouth, MI: Hayden-McNeil Publishing, 2013. 658-660. Print. Szymborska, Wislawa. "The End and The Beginning." It Begins with Our Question, A Thematic Introduction to the Humanities. Ed. Paul Allen and Ed. Jennifer Bauman. Plymouth, MI: Hayden-McNeil Publishing, 2013. 730-731. Print. Powell, David. "Vietnam: What I Remember." It Begins with Our Question, A Thematic Introduction to the Humanities. Ed. Paul Allen and Ed. Jennifer Bauman. Plymouth, MI: Hayden-McNeil Publishing, 2013. 736. Print. Legend, John, perf. Coming Home. Youtube, 2012. Web. 13 Nov 2013. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3owa7c-eFM0>. Legend, John, perf. Coming Home Lyrics. MetroLyrics, 2013. Web. 13 Nov 2013. <http://www.metrolyrics.com/coming-home-lyrics-john-legend.html>. Dennie, Uda. Artist. Im In War. Stockvault. 2013. Web. 13 Nov 2013. <http://www.stockvault.net/blog/photography/30-war-and-suffering-themedphotographs/>