Monday, October 27, 2014

Me vs Tim O'Brien

If I was 19 years old in the 1970’s, and I got drafted into the war, I would enlist into the army. I would fight for and serve my country. I would not only be fighting for America, but I would fight for and protect the people I love. The people threatening America also threaten me and my loved ones, and I want to do something about that. By joining the army I can protect my family, and also get the full experience of being in the army.

By joining the army I can prevent terrorist attacks from harming my family, and America itself. I am doing America a favor by fighting for it, and protecting it. Joining the war, defending for what America stands for is one of the true meanings of patriotism. The army has a billion lives on the line they need to protect, and I would like to carry that burden. 

Each one of us carrying this burden protects each other’s brothers and sisters and family. We joined so that we won’t be the ones seeing our family suffer, and us not being able to put an end to their suffering. We joined to ensure the safety of our family, ensure that the threat itself stays where it originated from. To do these things, joining the army is a necessity.

Within this necessity awaits an experience, the experience of being in the army, to defend one another’s family. It’s the sort of bond that one another can make while serving in the war. Living through the chaos of the war, so that one can appreciate the normal civilized environment that they live in. then coming back from the war to open arms.
Tim O’Brien however, thought differently. “What If” he thought, “I move to Canada?” he thought about how life would be there, peaceful, quiet, and best of all no war. Tim also thought about how it would be back in America. People would point at him calling him a traitor. The very thought trouble Tim O'Brien.
\What also troubled him was the fact that he was randomly picked for the war. Tim didn't think that it was fair that he had to fighting war, yet he wasn't even responsible for starting it. “Everyone else should fight this war; let the people who read the papers fight the war. I’m too good, too smart, too compassionate, too everything for this war.”
The pure thought of this war annoyed Tim. “What was the purpose behind this war? Why doesn't the government give us a straight answer about the war? What kind of war was it? Was it a civil war?” He had a lot of unanswered questions.
These questions soon haunted his dreams. He ended up dreaming what if he moved to Canada. People pointed at him screamed and called him names; the most common name was traitor. He feared the war, but he also feared exile. He was afraid of leaving everything that mattered to him.

Since everything mattered to him, he decided it was best to join the war. He wanted everyone to remember him in a good light. He loved everything in his life, the people always gossiping on the corner sitting on the steps of the cafe. He loved his friends his family, and his life, they all mattered to him. The fear of losing respect from everyone was too great for him, so he decided it was best to join the war.
When I first get the notice I would have already decided I was joining the war. It was simply a calling, a calling to join something bigger. Yet when Tim got his notice, he had an internal war within himself.

“Should I save myself and move to Canada? Or should I do what’s legally right and join the army?”
I think it would be best to join the army for the greater good. I would be doing my family and America itself a favor by joining in the army. Tim O'Brien however, thought about canoeing into Canada from a river. He figured that it was simply foolish to fight a needless war.
Joining the army, I say will give me a good experience of what it’s like to be in a war. It will give me the necessary skills in life to better myself as a person. Other people and how they think of Tim O'Brien if he left for Canada haunted Tim. Ultimately he feared exile from the people and things in his life that he loved.
In the end we both joined the army.

We joined for different reasons: I joined for patriotism, while Tim joined to avoid exile and criticism. We both decided in end to protect what was dear to us. We both in the end wound up serving our country.

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