Fear of Man

To what extent are you willing to stand up for what you believe in? What are the forces that prevent some people from doing what they believe is right?  The fear of how others will react is often times a huge factor in how people act.  The fear of the consequences of our choices is another.  It is normal to desire the acceptance of others.  Peer pressure is a huge influence in the behavior of young and old alike.  People are influenced in how they dress, how they act, and even how they think.  It is normal to take into consideration the feelings of others when making decisions.  But should we allow the opinions of others to make us do something we feel to be wrong?  Everything we do in life has the potential for both good and bad consequences.  Is a particular belief important enough to act upon regardless of the consequences?  Would you be able to take a particular course of action if you knew the consequences would be unfavorable?  Would you do what you felt to be right event if it meant going to jail?  Or, would you even die for what you believed?

In the short story “On the Rainy River” the author Tim O’Brien documents a decision he had to face.  He tells about how he was opposed to the Vietnam War.  He felt to the core of his being that this particular war was wrong. He was drafted to go fight in the war.  At first he does nothing.  He just works and caries on with life like nothing had changed.  Then he attempts to flee to Canada to escape from going to war.  He gets as far as a small lodge at the border where he stops to rest.  Hear he struggles with his decision to flee.  He is concerned about his image.  He doesn’t want others to look down on him for being a coward or a traitor.  He is also afraid of being caught and facing the law.  The turmoil inside of him is so strong it makes him physically ill.  He is out in a fishing boat on the Canada border and his escape is within his reach.  He breaks down crying.  He can’t bring himself to go through with escaping.  He ends up fighting in the war.  In the end though he admits his greatest shame, his true cowardice, was in going to war.  He was too afraid of others to stand up for what he believed in.  


Sources: 
"war1." Web. 26 Sep 2010. 
     < http://digitalseance.files.wordpress.com/2007/07/war1.gif >
"The Things They Carried." Amazon. Web. 26 Sep 2010. 

The Blood Storm

I've been racking my brain as to how to respond to the play "The Sand Storm”, by Sean Huse.  The mere fact that I don’t have a reaction, stirred a reaction in me.  The play was graphic, violent, and disturbing.  And I have to think to respond to it?  That is a problem.  That would indicate that I’ve been exposed so much to hate, violence, and human suffering; that I don’t form an emotional response when I read about it.   I certainly wouldn’t have read this play if I wasn’t required to.  I don’t involve myself in war or political matters.  This put aside, or perhaps because of this, I would rather read about something that interests me.  Some people find war oh so fascinating.  I think they believe it to be something noble somehow.   I see war is a vial disregard for human life.  I was relieved to find that the play didn’t try to paint an image of heroism when it depicted the battles.  It showed how dishonorable some of the solders felt about themselves and what they ‘had’ to do.  There deeds ranged from disregard for the needs of others to outright massacre of innocent people.  The play described some of them with bloodlust having no regard for the destruction they had caused.  Others reflected on a single detail of a battle and why it was significant to them personally.  I feel that the mental trauma that war places on people goes a lot deeper then even they know.   It is a fundamental part of every human conscience to be aware of the suffering of others and to value human life.  War forces people to disregard these most basic instincts.  The adrenalin of fight or flight kicks in while in battle.  The solder can feel powerful even invincible.  They are so intent on self preservation they forget that these are human lives that are being ended around them.  Is it self preservation, though, if you volunteered to be a part of a battle?  If you don’t do everything in your power to avoid going to war aren’t you in a way responsible for what you ‘have’ to do while you are there?  It’s something to think about.  The act of war is put behind rosy glasses.  The media depicts taking out the bad guy, never killing the innocent bystanders.  And it certainly doesn’t stress that both of these individuals’ lives were valuable and shouldn’t be taken.  If no one went to war, would there be war anymore?

Source:
"SandStormFront." cafepress. Web. 19 Sep 2010
"Peace." chattahbox.com. Web. 19 Sep 2010 

Responding to a Poem(s)

In the poem Immigrants in Our Own Land, by Jimmy Santiago Baca I found some deeper meaning.  Although the poem asserts to be written about immigrants, it made me think about jail or prison.  The poem talks about the desire to rehabilitate the immigrants. This is similar to the way the justice system declares they want to rehabilitate criminals to become useful members of society.  I find this claim to be absurd.  Jails serve little more purpose than to store humans.  They are simply a place to put people who are a bother to society.  It is an arbitrary punishment for whatever crimes the individuals has been charged with.  The poem refers to these ‘immigrants’ as living in cells with bars.  And the result of their stay, “our bodies decay, / our minds deteriorate, we learn nothing of value. / Our lives don’t get better, we go down quick.”(39-41).  Some become gangsters, “Some will die and others will go on living / without a soul, a future, or a reason to live.” (63-64).  I think it describes their situation best when it said, “so very few make it out of here as human”(66).  The poem doesn’t go so far to make me feel like incarceration isn’t a necessary part of our justice system. It does however make me feel like more is necessary in caring for individuals charged with crimes.  It turns out that the author has some expertise in this subject being a former convict himself (enotes). I really feel he did an excellent job of portraying the situation of those in the prison system.

  

  The second poem that held my attention, while reading threw the collection provided, was Photograph from September 11 by Wislawa Szymborska.  I appreciated how this scene of September 11 was depicted.  For myself the events of that date were not continues streams of time, rather brief images captured between glances at a TV and suppressing the deep feelings of disbelief.  She said, “The photograph halted them in life” (4).   Thus describing the images burned into film or burned into the minds of those viewing the event.  As if these images would preserve alive the falling victims they depict.  She concludes by saying “I can do only two things for them— / describe this flight / and not add a last line.” (17-19)  So in her own way she was honoring these lives lost by telling about how they died.  In order to keep their memory alive and not add to the horror, she chose not to describe the final impact that ended their existence.

Sources:

"JailCells." Microsoft Office 2007 Clipart

"Cuffed." Microsoft Office 2007 Clipart