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A Rumor of War
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War is a terrible thing that haunts humanity’s past and looms over our future. Our history is filled with war. Ever since we have known greed and lust people have waged war to get what they want. It is some people’s opinion the war brings peace or you can’t have peace without war. Those people aren’t one for negotiating. “War is hell,” Is a profound statement made by General Sherman during the Civil War and it holds true today. War has taken millions of lives and with new technology; many lives can be lost in the blink of an eye. Perhaps someday we can do away with war. Let peace rule and spare the lives of the next generation who would do the fighting. That day is a long time coming. War is hell, no matter how you look at it, for both sides involved. Every war we’ve ever known has had unifying themes with other wars. Wars are fought over land, human rights, political ideals, religious beliefs, and worldviews. WWII and the Vietnam War shared some similarities. Both were wars that the US was reluctant to enter. Neither one took place on our soil. In both we were fighting the “bad guys” be it the Nazi’s or communists. In WWII, we were reluctant to enter because we wanted to keep a sense of neutrality with Europe. We helped the Allied cause with supplies but tried to stay out of the melee. Not until we realized the threat the Nazi party posed to the world and Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor did we join the fray. It was a larger question of world safety and the atrocities of the Holocaust that brought a more popular opinion from the American people that we entered the war. Our entrance into the Vietnam War was more for political reasons. We were waging war on communism and fighting for democracy. Political leaders saw the spread of communism threatening to a mostly capitalistic world economy and feared communist expansion into the western hemisphere. During the time of the 1960’s where peace and free love reigned, the war was not met with popular support. There were numerous demonstrations against our entrance into the Vietnam War and were we almost seen as bullies. People didn’t accept our interference with another country’s civil war and regretted the loss of American lives where many felt we didn’t belong. It is hard for me to put myself in a soldier’s shoes. I have read numerous books and texts describing war and I still could not imagine myself being there.
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