Culture of War: Lost Comrades
“God dammit, Rick! Get down! You’re gonna get yourself killed!”
I was running from behind cover to a ditch, where our friend Billy was laying. Bullets flew around me, I was only yards away. I was going to be able to- BAM!
I awoke in a hospital bed. Tubes were attached to me, and I noticed one of those machines that measured your heart beat – I never learned what they were called. Looking around, I noticed I was all alone in my hospital bed. “Hello?” I called out. No response. “HELLO?” I yelled this time. A nurse came running in. “Oh! Oh my god! You’re awake!” She rushed off, yelling, “Doctor! Doctor!” A tall, slender man walked in a couple minutes later, with a name tag reading “Dr. Gray.”
Read the rest of this story here.
I was running from behind cover to a ditch, where our friend Billy was laying. Bullets flew around me, I was only yards away. I was going to be able to- BAM!
I awoke in a hospital bed. Tubes were attached to me, and I noticed one of those machines that measured your heart beat – I never learned what they were called. Looking around, I noticed I was all alone in my hospital bed. “Hello?” I called out. No response. “HELLO?” I yelled this time. A nurse came running in. “Oh! Oh my god! You’re awake!” She rushed off, yelling, “Doctor! Doctor!” A tall, slender man walked in a couple minutes later, with a name tag reading “Dr. Gray.”
Read the rest of this story here.
Truth of War Found Poem
Poem made using The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien.
“A true war story is never moral. It does not instruct, nor encourage virtue, nor suggest models of proper human behavior, nor restrain men from doing the things men have always done. If a story seems moral, do not believe it. If at the end of a war story you feel uplifted, or if you feel that some small bit of rectitude has been salvaged from the larger waste, then you have been made the victim of a very old and terrible lie. There is no rectitude whatsoever. There is no virtue. As a first rule of thumb, therefore, you can tell a true war story by its absolute and uncompromising allegiance to obscenity and evil. ”
― Tim O'Brien, The Things They Carried
The draft notice arrived on June 17, 1968
It was a quiet, cloudy day
I scanned the first few lines
and felt the blood go thick behind my eyes
Why me, I wondered
I was no soldier
I was too smart, too compassionate
I was too good for this war
What started out as rage
Soon burned down to a smoldering self-pity
My father asked what I would do
“Wait,” was all I had to say.
Read the whole poem here.
“A true war story is never moral. It does not instruct, nor encourage virtue, nor suggest models of proper human behavior, nor restrain men from doing the things men have always done. If a story seems moral, do not believe it. If at the end of a war story you feel uplifted, or if you feel that some small bit of rectitude has been salvaged from the larger waste, then you have been made the victim of a very old and terrible lie. There is no rectitude whatsoever. There is no virtue. As a first rule of thumb, therefore, you can tell a true war story by its absolute and uncompromising allegiance to obscenity and evil. ”
― Tim O'Brien, The Things They Carried
The draft notice arrived on June 17, 1968
It was a quiet, cloudy day
I scanned the first few lines
and felt the blood go thick behind my eyes
Why me, I wondered
I was no soldier
I was too smart, too compassionate
I was too good for this war
What started out as rage
Soon burned down to a smoldering self-pity
My father asked what I would do
“Wait,” was all I had to say.
Read the whole poem here.
Religion
Seminar Reflection
1. Reflection
Describe your experience exhibiting a seminar. Reflect on the outcome. Consider your own participation and the seminar overall.
Exhibiting a seminar was definitely unlike anything I’ve done before while at Animas High School. I came in ready to kick the snot out of this thing, but as more people filed in and as the seminar started, I found my heart racing, and my under arms became a raging waterfall (no joke, I was sweating like no other in that thing). I was quiet during the first part of the seminar, thinking of some quality points but never really saying them because of my nervousness, but I soon overcame that. While I didn’t offer very many answers to the questions, I believe that I asked some great questions that spurred the conversation forward. One question I asked was on the question of morality and religion playing hand in hand. When majority of the group was saying that a lot of the time religion can make a person a better person, I countered with a, “Do religious people need to be moral if they can just ask their God for forgiveness?” This spurred the conversation in a new direction, and I was satisfied because of that. This seminar really helped me with thinking on the spot with an audience, and with my audience and speaking in front of a crowd skills.
2. Reaction
React to your peers’ ideas (be specific) and the ideas you all constructed together. Was there anything that enlightened you? Something you particularly disagree with? Give at least one specific example of something that was said in seminar that impacted you and explain your reaction.
My peers’ ideas gave me mixed feelings. I found myself hearing a lot of “Well, it really depends on the person.” I thought this response was complete crap, a cheap out. I didn’t want to hear about what different people thought; I wanted to hear what you thought. I was also very surprised when I was the only one who immediately barked out no when asked the question, “Would the United States be a better place if there was no separation between church and state. I was even more surprised when I heard some “Well…”s come out of some mouths. I went on quite enthusiastically about how terrible it would be if there was no separation between church and state, and I believe some were surprised by how strongly I felt about it.
3. Changes in Thinking
Explain how the seminar influenced or changed your thinking about any of the questions or topics. How is your thinking now different than it was before the seminar?
To be one hundred percent honest, my thinking changed very little between before and after the seminar. Not only did most people in our seminar group have similar ideas and beliefs, but arguing about religion is like arguing about politics, it’s not going to change anyone’s mind. I’m not saying that we were arguing about religion. We were discussing it, which is fine and one hundred percent doable, but I don’t think one’s mind can sway so easily from just a conversation, just as it can’t sway when someone is trying to change another’s mind on the topic of religion.
4. Connections
Make a connection between the issues discussed in this seminar and another topic or idea that wasn’t mentioned. Be sure to explain your connections thoroughly.
While this may not completely answer this, I’d like to talk about something that was not discussed too much in our studies of religion: Religion vs. Spirituality. People often think that religion and spirituality play hand in hand, but I’d beg to differ. Yes, religion and spirituality are two things that have huge impacts on people’s lives, but they are still different in many ways. While religion focuses on the worshipping and gaining the favor of a deity, spirituality, for me, is finding one’s inner self. It can give one a better sense of overall well-being, and if one goes far enough into their spirituality it can give them an unfaltering sense of peace and contentedness. It allows you to realize the peace within yourself. Spirituality is so much more deep than religion, and I feel like to compare the two is insulting to the idea of spirituality.
5. Project Conclusions
How has this project changed your perspective in general? What are your general take-aways concerning religion and spirituality?
My views on organized religion have not changed at since we started this project, but my views on the people who choose to partake in them have. A prime example of this would be the Baptist speaker who came to speak to us. Because of the Westboro Baptist Church, I had this general idea that Baptists were racist and homophobic and bigoted and all that jazz. When he came in and started talking about his love for everyone, I was genuinely surprised. And when he started talking about himself as not a follower of the church, but as a follower of Jesus Christ, it got me thinking. What Jesus taught was love and tolerance and passion and beauty, and I, someone who does not believe in any deity or higher power, found myself thinking that I too could be a follower of the lessons Jesus taught. This is something that I never would have thought about if it were not for this project. This project also helped me realize that many religions follow the same core belief of loving one another as you would love yourself, which I found to be absolutely wonderful.
The Story of Rock
I made the Story of Rock to represent my views on religion. I made it as an allegory that compares a rock to God. People worship this rock, pray to t his Rock, believe this rock is almighty, and even kill each other over this rock, but they never get anything back from it. This is how I feel about the idea of God. I feel like people devote their entire lives to the idea of God, just to be let down when they find out there is no heaven, much like how the characters in my story were let down when they saw Rock destroyed.
1. Reflection
Describe your experience exhibiting a seminar. Reflect on the outcome. Consider your own participation and the seminar overall.
Exhibiting a seminar was definitely unlike anything I’ve done before while at Animas High School. I came in ready to kick the snot out of this thing, but as more people filed in and as the seminar started, I found my heart racing, and my under arms became a raging waterfall (no joke, I was sweating like no other in that thing). I was quiet during the first part of the seminar, thinking of some quality points but never really saying them because of my nervousness, but I soon overcame that. While I didn’t offer very many answers to the questions, I believe that I asked some great questions that spurred the conversation forward. One question I asked was on the question of morality and religion playing hand in hand. When majority of the group was saying that a lot of the time religion can make a person a better person, I countered with a, “Do religious people need to be moral if they can just ask their God for forgiveness?” This spurred the conversation in a new direction, and I was satisfied because of that. This seminar really helped me with thinking on the spot with an audience, and with my audience and speaking in front of a crowd skills.
2. Reaction
React to your peers’ ideas (be specific) and the ideas you all constructed together. Was there anything that enlightened you? Something you particularly disagree with? Give at least one specific example of something that was said in seminar that impacted you and explain your reaction.
My peers’ ideas gave me mixed feelings. I found myself hearing a lot of “Well, it really depends on the person.” I thought this response was complete crap, a cheap out. I didn’t want to hear about what different people thought; I wanted to hear what you thought. I was also very surprised when I was the only one who immediately barked out no when asked the question, “Would the United States be a better place if there was no separation between church and state. I was even more surprised when I heard some “Well…”s come out of some mouths. I went on quite enthusiastically about how terrible it would be if there was no separation between church and state, and I believe some were surprised by how strongly I felt about it.
3. Changes in Thinking
Explain how the seminar influenced or changed your thinking about any of the questions or topics. How is your thinking now different than it was before the seminar?
To be one hundred percent honest, my thinking changed very little between before and after the seminar. Not only did most people in our seminar group have similar ideas and beliefs, but arguing about religion is like arguing about politics, it’s not going to change anyone’s mind. I’m not saying that we were arguing about religion. We were discussing it, which is fine and one hundred percent doable, but I don’t think one’s mind can sway so easily from just a conversation, just as it can’t sway when someone is trying to change another’s mind on the topic of religion.
4. Connections
Make a connection between the issues discussed in this seminar and another topic or idea that wasn’t mentioned. Be sure to explain your connections thoroughly.
While this may not completely answer this, I’d like to talk about something that was not discussed too much in our studies of religion: Religion vs. Spirituality. People often think that religion and spirituality play hand in hand, but I’d beg to differ. Yes, religion and spirituality are two things that have huge impacts on people’s lives, but they are still different in many ways. While religion focuses on the worshipping and gaining the favor of a deity, spirituality, for me, is finding one’s inner self. It can give one a better sense of overall well-being, and if one goes far enough into their spirituality it can give them an unfaltering sense of peace and contentedness. It allows you to realize the peace within yourself. Spirituality is so much more deep than religion, and I feel like to compare the two is insulting to the idea of spirituality.
5. Project Conclusions
How has this project changed your perspective in general? What are your general take-aways concerning religion and spirituality?
My views on organized religion have not changed at since we started this project, but my views on the people who choose to partake in them have. A prime example of this would be the Baptist speaker who came to speak to us. Because of the Westboro Baptist Church, I had this general idea that Baptists were racist and homophobic and bigoted and all that jazz. When he came in and started talking about his love for everyone, I was genuinely surprised. And when he started talking about himself as not a follower of the church, but as a follower of Jesus Christ, it got me thinking. What Jesus taught was love and tolerance and passion and beauty, and I, someone who does not believe in any deity or higher power, found myself thinking that I too could be a follower of the lessons Jesus taught. This is something that I never would have thought about if it were not for this project. This project also helped me realize that many religions follow the same core belief of loving one another as you would love yourself, which I found to be absolutely wonderful.
The Story of Rock
I made the Story of Rock to represent my views on religion. I made it as an allegory that compares a rock to God. People worship this rock, pray to t his Rock, believe this rock is almighty, and even kill each other over this rock, but they never get anything back from it. This is how I feel about the idea of God. I feel like people devote their entire lives to the idea of God, just to be let down when they find out there is no heaven, much like how the characters in my story were let down when they saw Rock destroyed.