'The Things They Carried'

I found the beginning of the book The Things They Carried rather dull and repetitive, because it was too literal at first. But, now that that part is over, I think it is a fairly good book so far. It's kept my interest at least, even though that isn't too hard.

Being soldiers, there are burdens they have to carry beyond guns, ammunition, and diseases. Most, if not all men, suffered through the memories, and that alone was a heavy burden. They had to live with memories of people they killed, people they knew who had been killed, and they often grew remorseful for not preventing something that could have been prevented. For example, they might blame themselves for a fellow soldier's death, even if it was out of their reach, and it would have been impossible to prevent aside from staying out of the war. It's a tough burden, and I'm thankful we have men who sacrificed that much for the sake of our country and such.

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Jimmy Cross, being the first character introduced, seems like an important part of the story. He seems to hold on to memories of his old crush, named Martha. She didn't actually love him, but he loved her, and used her as inspiration, and motivation to survive. Though, after the death of Ted Lavender, he burns the pictures and letters from her that he cherished so much. He sees this as a metaphor, that he has let go of Martha, and he will try to focus on the present, and the reality, rather than dreaming of being with Martha again. Shortly into the story, however, the narrator is having a chat with Jimmy, in what seems like a post-war situation, and it's clear he isn't over Martha. This also shows it's safe to say he survives through the story. I think from what we've seen so far, and the fact that he's the First Lieutenant, he'll lead his fellow soldiers through the war, and possibly serve as a hero to the others.

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Other than the obvious fact that they've all been about theVietnam war, I don't see how they're connected. The documentary The Most Dangerous Man In America was about Daniel Ellsberg, and the government hiding the truth about the progress in the war, while the book The Things They Carried focuses on one person's experiences  in the war. Or at least, that's what I'm getting from the book.

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America and War

Personally, I think war is a somewhat trivial, albeit necessary part of a nation's growth. It's impossible for everyone from all different nations and countries to agree, so there are bound to be disputes over those disagreements. I understand when a nation gets into wars that either affect us directly, or have a large impact on us as a nation, but when we jump into each and every war, it's a little unnecessary. I don't think the US gets into every war, and I'm glad we don't. We shouldn't send off our men to fight, and often die, just so some old guys can get what they want.

But like I said, it is often necessary for a nation to become involved. Take Japan, for example. They had the policy of isolation for a long time, but, because of this, they began falling behind technologically. They then became involved in trade and such with other nations, and very quickly caught up with the more modern nations.

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As for getting involved in wars, it really depends on how much of an impact it will have on us, and a couple other factors, like why it should be ended, who is it harming, and is it really a reason to risk our troops, among other questions.

But the question is "should the US ever get involved in wars?" And that is obviously a yes, since there will most certainly be situations where we will have to get involved.

There will be times when people are threatening us as a nation, and, as a result, we have to stand up against them and fight. Some people will die; that's a given in situations like those. But it's sometimes what has to be done, as harsh as that may sound. I'm personally grateful to know there are great people who are willing to risk their lives for the sake of our country, and the lives of its people. Without them, I can honestly say we wouldn't be such a great and powerful country, like we are today.

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To my highly limited knowledge of history, the Vietnam war was simply a war in Vietnam that was supposed to take a very short amount of time (at least compared to how long it actually took), but didn't due to guerilla warfare tactics, and supplies from Russia, I believe. I'm probably mistaken on that part, though.

I just know that it was a long and difficult war, which resulted in a lot more deaths than it should have.

And that's literally all I actually know, even though I'm probably wrong anyways.

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All in all, I think war is another one of those tender, personal subjects, like religion and abortion. Though war has a larger weight upon us all, because a wrong move could have a lot more casualties.

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