The beat goes on
War has a way of reaching out and sucking people into it. In many ways wars do not ever end they just change with time. One thing is undeniable, war changes people. In a war a man will change whether he is a front line solder or an average college student. In the case of the college student it is not something that is going to be noticed in a matter of days, weeks or even months: maybe years, but in decades it will be used to define him. Then there is the front line solder, from the moment he (or she) enlisted he has been pushed and shoved in one direction or another. Obviously war affects this man the most. It could make him or break him.
In the book Testament of Youth Vera Brittain (also the author) worries even if her lover, Roland, survives the War (WWI) he will be forever changed by the horrors he witnessed. She writes:
“In desperation I begun to look carefully through his letters for every vivid word picture…which suggested that no merely the body but the spirit that I desired was still in the process of survival.”
I recently found a blog on The Sandbox by a solder named Toby Nunn who unknowingly read the fate of a solder he had known that had been recently be discharged. He describes the shock from finding out that the man he used to go on patrol with had recently murdered a man. At the end of his article he sums his thoughts up with:
“I am not sympathetic to those that murder, but perhaps I understand the willingness ingrained.”
Another reminder of how wars never really end, they just change. Perhaps one day we will no longer need men to train to kill. Perhaps one day there will be an end to war. Until then we need brave men like Toby Nunn and Roland who are willing to fight the fights, and because of their bravery they will change the world.
Filed by whitepe at February 6th, 2008 under Uncategorized
I also wrote a post on the idea that war forever changes people. It’s not that they will never be able to live a normal person’s life ever again, but simply that many soldiers get reminded of the things they experienced in war from one thing or another. These reminders drag that person back into the hell that they experienced and each different veteran experiences their reaction differently, apparently this person was changed to the point where he was driven to kill someone, but most people do not respond to strongly. So, this leads me to think that it is common knowlegde that soldiers come back as at very least slightly different people, and so i think that the person who volunteers to go to war is making a huge sacrifice. A sacrifice that will stick with them throughout their entire lives, but many soldiers would probably say that this sacrifice was worthwhile in order to defend the way of life that the rest of those on the home-front live. In my opinion I think that this idea the ultimate sacrifice, should be respected and honored by those who did not have to go through it in war.