When I first started this blog I had trouble decided what I wanted my topic to be (I changed it at least three times). However, I feel like change was a good topic to decide on. Change allowed me to look into many different aspects; almost everything in war changes.
I think the most profound change I have seen is in the lives of those involved with war. So many of the soldiers we read about seem to have become completely different people postwar. So many people are left with the feeling that even though they survived war, they were still dead because of it.
This loss of life, as it was prewar, is evident in many of the characters/authors we’ve read about. Vera Brittain, a young nurse who was never quite the same after the death of her fiance, Vladek Spiegleman, a old man who cannot let go of his son, his wife, his past, Billy Pilgrim, who is continually circling his life and time traveling, and Tim O’Brien who is a 43 year old (sic) writer who is still writing about Vietnam even though decades have gone by, represent everyone who has undergone an irreversible change in war. To find the casulities of war no counting or speculation is need, it should be apparent: the exact amount of those sent to war. Everyone’s prewar-self dies in war, whether they rise from the ashes or not is irrelevant; no one comes out of war as the same person that went in.
I think that these dramatic changes have made me come to one conclusion, it may seem cliched (especially after the last year’s campaigns) but what we need is change. We as a society have accepted war over and over again. letting the notion of pride and honor justify what war does to both sides, just how much damage war truly does. We cannot just accept that war happens, has always happened and will always happen. It will only change if we change it. I do not believe war is human nature; I believe that war can be changed.
