Respons on "How toTell a True War Story"

I have never thought too much about war stories and whether they are true or false.  Now that I have read “How to Tell a True War Story” by Tim O’Brien I believe that the truest war stories, are the ones with no moral value and no happy ending.  Now looking back, a lot of the war stories I have heard about are tragedies that happened for no good reason; mostly goofing off and accidents.  Any whenever I hear about a war tragedy on the news they usually don’t go into detail about how it happened and why.  Everything is candy coated or made to sound like it happened for a greater good, which is not always the case.  Tim O’Brien writes “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” (O’Brien: Pg. 65).  That pretty much believes that you should not believe the candy coated stories we hear on the news or read in the newspaper, because they are probably much worst or maybe even a complete different story altogether.  Tim O’Brien also writes “A true war story is never moral.  It does not instruct, nor encourage virtue, nor suggests models of proper human behavior, nor restrain men from doing the things men have always done” (Tim O’Brien: Pg. 65).  I feel that O’Brien is basically saying that the more rude and crude the story is, or the more morally unjust it may seem, probably, the truer it is.  Which for me, the more I read this story the harder it was for me to grasp.  It was kind of depressing for me because I began to feel like war is pointless and has no moral value what so ever, which goes against everything I believe and hope for.  This story really got me questioning myself; my beliefs and how I feel about war.  I always have so much to say about things, but when I read these stories they just left me speechless.  Kind of like Tim O’Brien writes “In a true war story, if there’s a moral at all, it’s like the thread that makes the cloth.  You can’t tease it out.  You can’t extract the meaning without unraveling the deeper meaning.  And in the end, really, there’s nothing much to say about a true war story, except maybe “oh” (O’Brien: Pg. 74).  That just about sums up the whole story.  If you are not left speechless, then it is probably not a true war story.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      Works Cited

                                 O’Brien, Tim. The Things They Carries. True. Oct. 1987.

                                       

                                                                          URL

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20070314175239AArlAaa

http://www.illyria.com/tob/tobbio.html

Responding To Poems

            Although I was moved by more than just one of the poems, I have chosen to write about the two that touched me the most and brought the most emotion out of me.  I chose to write about “Song of Napalm” by Bruce Weigl, and “Compendium of Lost Objects” by Nicole Cooley. Both of these poems were very heartfelt and emotional.  They both gave me such vivid pictures of the events and made me feel the writers hurt and pain.

   The first poem called “Song of Napalm” was written about a deep and tragic lose.  I can’t even fathom this kind of lose.  A friend of my family lost her daughter about five years ago and I remember the horrid screams when she found out, like it was yesterday.  This is something that no one should ever have to go through, but unfortunately far too many people do.  In the poem Bruce Weigl writes “The lie works only as long as it takes to speak and the girl runs only as far as the napalm allows until her burning tendons and cracking muscles draw her up into that final position” (Weigl: Par. 5).  That brings so much truth and reality to such a tragic event by stating that no matter how you try to mask the pain and lie to yourself it is not going to last.  You will have to face the truth at one time or another.

    The second poem I chose called “Compendium of Lost Objects” was written about a hurricane.  That there is no safe place for your materialistic things, in an event like this.  This poem brought so many realities to me.  I made me realize how important it is to hold on to and cherish the important things in life like family and friends, because at any moment they could be gone.  I have never experienced a hurricane, but I feel this poem can apply to anyone because what’s dearest to you can be taken at any time.  In the poem Nicole Cooley writes “Because, look, none of this fits in a dark wood cabinet for safekeeping. This is an installation for dismantling –never seen again” (Cooley: Line 12).  She is saying no matter how hard you try or how tight you hold on to something or someone, there is not a safe place on this earth to put them that you can reassure their safekeeping, so cherish every God given moment.  

                                                    Works Cited
Weigl, Bruce. "Songs of Napalm".
http://www.thebeckoning.com/poetry/weigl/weigle.html

Cooley, Nicole. Poets.org. Compendium. 2010.
http://www.poets.org/veiwmedia.php/prmMID/21526

My response to Sam Hamill's "The Necessity to Speak"

    I agree with some of Sam Hamill’s views but not all of them.  I agree that it is very important to speak up in today’s society to make changes.  If we do not want our daughters getting pregnant at such young ages, then we need to inform them on the consequences of their actions and pray that they make good decisions.  Just because a child is educated doesn’t mean that they won’t make mistakes though.  I feel that the biggest problem with teen pregnancy is that parents don’t care. For instance I had tons of friends in high school that their parents let them have boyfriends stay the night with them and even some lived together under their parents’ roof.  I also agree that most abusers have been abused in the past and in order for the cycle to be broken they need to seek serious help.  Most women that have been walked on and beaten through out there lives I believe feel that its normal and tend to find those kind of relationships because that’s what is comfortable to them or maybe that’s what they think they deserve.  I agree that most men are afraid to show emotion like Sam Hamill stated.  In today’s society it is a sign of weakness for a man to cry.  That is very sad; if society wasn’t always pushing people to be what they are not then we probably wouldn’t have as many issues such as, eating disorders, depression, suicide, teen pregnancy, etc…   So yes, I feel that we as a country do need to speak up and stop all of this nonsense about what a person is supposed to look like and act like.  Unfortunately this is what are country has become and I feel that it’s only going to get worse.

            Now were Sam Hamill lost me and I completely disagree with him is his beliefs on disciplining your children.  Maybe it’s just me but I felt like he was saying that spanking your child is abusing your child.  If that’s what he was trying to say I feel like he is sadly mistaken.  

I feel the reason children are so disrespectful these days is because a lot of parents let their children walk all over them.  I’m sorry but that will not fly in my house. I will not allow my kids to think they are the boss.  I’m not saying that it’s ok to beat your kids but there is nothing wrong with a good smack on the butt. 

            About the Army and the government I really can’t say a whole lot because I don’t know much about it other than off course the government is a bunch of lies and scams always has been always will.     

URL- http://poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/733