On Death and Dying
Posted on February 3rd, 2008 in Uncategorized
Last weeks assignment got that snowed out was to read, “When the vision dies…” out of Testament of Youth by Vera Brittain. For those of you who haven’t had the chance to flip through those pages, Roland dies. Vera is consoled through letters and everyone talking to her and trying to comfort her, but nothing really helps. She tries to move on but it’s so hard for her, like it is for anyone who has had someone close pass away.
“‘Everything is so exactly the same as it was before, which brings sit all back so vividly,’ I wrote to Edward. ‘It seems unendurable that everything should be the same.’”
That line really spoke to me. It seems like she’s asking, “how could people go on with their life normally when Roland just died? How could people laugh and smile when I am in so much pain?”
Death seems to happen more often nowadays and people are so unaffected by it. In movies people get shot up and since it’s a “bad guy” no one really cares. I may be looking a little too deep into it but “bad guys” have families too! There might be some high speed chase and police cars are crashing into each other and then BOOM! one explodes and the flames rise 10 feet high! But what about the drive of that car? Policemen always seem not to make it very long in an action flick and that bothers me a little. They’re suppose to be well trained and highly respected. Their job is to protect us but they are portrayed as lousy shooters and bad drivers. Respectable people don’t get enough respect, at least that is how I feel.
In the book it reveals the events that happened when Ronald was killed. He took a bullet to the stomach while about to repair the wire in the front of the trench he was in. Coincidentally, The Usual Suspect, who everyone is probably subscribed to by now, spoke about someone on the other side of the spectrum.
“There’s gunfire out of nowhere, and soon it’s a squad on one rooftop against the enemy on another rooftop. “Chaz” returns fire with his SAW and watches as his rounds smack into some guy’s ribs. He shakes for the rest of the day.”
The Downward Spiral
For the few of us that death still affects, when we hear of someone being shot we only seem to think of the victim, after reading that paragraph, it made me think of others too. Taking someone’s life would be a feeling I don’t think I could ever come to terms with. Inflicting pain on those close to that person would fill me so full of guilt I wouldn’t be able to bear it. No justification would be able to satisfy that guilt either. But that is what the military does. Our soldiers shoot other soldiers for our government. They do it to prove that our country is better than theirs and we should have control over the situation. But really it is, our country has better training facilities, or our country has more resources to send to beat up another country. And the reports that come in are just numbers.
In Period 6 of the Iraq Coalition Casualties Count, the United States had 858 deaths in the last 367 days. That is 858 families effected by this war more than just a raise in gas prices. That’s 858 people that can’t be hugged or laughed with or slept next to at night. These broken families have sacrificed so much happiness for something that isn’t really thought about, past looking at the number.
No one in my family has ever, “died for a cause” but I can image that it really sucks
….especially when you don’t whole heartedly agree with the cause in the first place…
February 4th, 2008 4:25 pm
I agree with your connection to the text in regards to the feeling that it appears that no one really cares about Roland’s death and the impact of it. The quote from the text did appeal to me as well.
I was considered going in to the Marines and was about to go but didn’t. Now I am going into a career field where I will have to make a decision to take someone else’s life. I can’t imagine what it must feel like to take the life of another human being, and then have to deal with the psychological and emotional impacts of killing someone. People don’t understand how hard to have the responsibilities of taking a humans life.
Yes, the families are just as brave as their soldier(s) because they have so much to worry about and hopefully not dealing with the death. I think that we have to look at our history and question whether or not war is inevitable because I don’t think it is and for the U.S. to be what we are today I don’t think we can avoid war. I just pray for the families and the soldiers and try my best to be thankful for there service so that I can live free.
February 5th, 2008 1:13 am
After reading your post, I got chills, I must admit. It’s not everyday where one actually sits and thinks about people who have died, and their families. Its always “someone else”, or “that one guy”. People unfortunately sometimes don’t stop to think about how close they actually are to losing someone close. My best friend just signed up for the National Guard, and only now am I starting to realize how close I am to losing him…
I think this is part of the reason why Vera is so upset about Roland’s death. It was never real to her until she heard the news. His letters were filled with intermittent positive thoughts and veiled remarks about the brutalities of war that I don’t know if she ever completely understood the immediate danger he was in.
As for the movies, I remember one movie by Michael Moore called “Rodger & Me”, where a black man dressed up in a Superman costume (obviously not in his right mind) was hobbling towards police with a shotgun. He took a couple of steps, and BAM, they shot him dead. The scene quickly shifts to a woman clubbing rabbits, skinning them, and selling their furs so she can get out of debt.
There was uproar when the movie came out about the indecency and total horrific-ness of one of these scenes. But was it the obviously handicapped man who was confused? No, it was over the woman who was trying to survive by killing rabbits. No one mentioned the guy getting shot in the chest. Maybe because no one would remember him? Doesn’t he have family too? Someone must have loved him somewhere.
April 6th, 2008 9:37 pm
I am not going to lie it’s about 1:33 am and I am sitting at my kitchen table trying to finish these posts my neighbor sitting across from studying for his accounting exam. After reading your post I broke down into tears when he asked what was wrong I could not example I just got up and left my kitchen table. Twenty minutes later I am still trying to write this post and the words just won’t seem to come out. One of the happiest days of your teenage life is suppose to be your graduation from high school coming from a graduating class of only twenty eight my classmates and I were all well acquainted. Graduation was set for Friday night at 7 pm however; just two days prior to this three of my classmates were killed by a drunken driver. Graduation was not the same the administration tried to make it as up beat as possible but nobody wished to be there. Every year a senior slide show plays prior receiving your diploma the slide show had already been finished and there was no way of taking the three girls out when there picture showed our entire school immediately broke down.
It was memorable that for that mere second everybody in the small town of Leland was quite we all wished to pay our respects. While that was nice but in just a few short seconds our lives went on. For the unfortunate family matters it was devastating they did not get to greave instead they showed up for all there friends graduation parties while great respect was shown to the families it just goes to show that people die everyday and for most its just another person whether they are 100 or 2.
April 11th, 2008 5:31 pm
This is a daily occurrence in the war but being home I’ve seen that it’s an afterthought to many, especially the anti-war protestors. That’s fine, that’s their opinion. The line is crossed though when people desecrate the lives of the fallen. I don’t care what you think about the war but doesn’t it make sense to afford the people who die the same respect as any other deceased person? All too common the response is “We don’t care”. Are people really that dissensitized now? We just don’t care about people dying? I’m not sure who would be to blame for this if you could blame anyone. It seems ignorant and selfish to think that as long something doesn’t affect one personally or it doesn’t sit well with one, it doesn’t matter. Some people are just too far gone to care but gradually, it seems, people feel like this more and more. Not just in regards to the military but like Grace mentioned civil service employees like police officers.
Death is in the natural course of life but when people choose to gamble with it for the well being of others, it deserves a little respect. Respectable don’t get enough respect. I Agree
April 15th, 2008 5:21 am
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