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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Tory,
ReplyDeleteYou raise some interesting points, and it is clear that you have this question much thought. It is not uncommon for young people to know very little about the Vietnam War. Personally, I didn't learn about the War until I was an adult and took the initiative to learn. We will spend Monday learning about the history of the War.
Ms. Smith
Well, I remember learning little things about it, and I'm sure I've studied it in depth from a previous class, but none of it really stuck to my memory.
ReplyDeleteThat video we watched was definitely very helpful, as I've never heard of Daniel Ellsberg before this week. I think he was very smart in what he did, and quite brave. I don't think many of us would have actually been able to do the same, especially knowing he could have gotten over 115 years of jail time.
It definitely wouldn't have looked good on a job application.