What the Vietnam Vets Can Teach Us - Essay Example

?United we stand apart we fall, and this is evident in our setting as though not everything is in respect to what occurred, but the idea of the monuments is refreshes memories of then and enables one to put him /herself in the veterans shoes the changes they would have implemented and where they would have corrected in their aim to set a better living society. The clearest part despite all that took place during that horrific moment is that nothing sunk in the minds of Americans as virtues such as negligence or even corruption is practiced, meaning it did not paint any picture in the minds of the citizens. The veteran’s memorial should be a constant reminder to whoever comes across it and should recall and things done back then should not be repeated.  Certain myths are unique to specific cultures, and with them as Barthes Roland tell it,4 they serve different functions. They can either honor or disguise the culture eroding both facts and truths that were behind it. They are meant to bring citizens like a community shunning evil practices and embracing harmony. Not all this is accomplished as you’ll still find people in America suffering with their children and you’d conclude that time has elapsed them or isn’t the society giving back? The setting of the memorial I’m meant to understand is supposed to bury the hatchet and give birth to an entirely different society with different perspectives. (Warren 2004) With the veterans, you’ll find moral seriousness in particular unlike a different kind of America on the basis of what one learnt, observed and got from the experience according to the senses based on; violence and brutality underwent. This brought about a different kind of behavior in the manner the vets treat and address each other based on mutual respect and love. A conversation with Beikirch Gary similarly proves as the medal5 reward awarded to him intensifies him about the war times, how far he has come to attain the presidency of the Genesse valley V.V.A chapter and above all he knows he’s appreciated by his country. Unlike the other Americans, the vets were different in that they stood for one another shared together helped each other and showed generosity to their selves. They stand for justice and are optimistic it’s going to be practiced by the citizens and those in power. This prompts them to lead by example as majority of Americans lack a sense of personality in the creation of moral values. If allowed, the vets would be willing to go and finish what they started for the sake of America. (Sung 1998)  As different as we are, so were they in their time and childhood years. There are some whom were lucky and their fathers happened to be involved in the Second World War. This was a merit as traits, tactics and morals would be passed to them with ease and out of experience to make them belief in the glory brought about the war. Catholics who were not lucky got a chance  as well as challenges through Kennedy George as he publicly asked, what they would do for their country individually, in the quest to kick out communism, not only to please their religious leader nor those in power or elders, but mostly God. There are those who embraced the war, and in my opinion I would say it was the lack of knowledge, love and ignorance in order to satisfy what their elders were unable to accomplish. Loss of a loved would have prompted so many to join with the motive of revenging. (Terry 1984) I support them as having been cut off from all sustaining world activities as it was not only some way to reunite, but also a common practice with the entire nation. They were facing extinction and this made them feel left out. But it was different for some as they could not bear what they did during that particular time, and their conscience judged them of their doings prompting to rhetoric questions to a point of wanting to commit suicide. This is evident that depression is downing on them now as in the beginning they lacked knowledge and dashed into war without even thinking about the aftermath. It was not the best way for the vets in transitioning from adolescent to a man if asked or better enough to gain glory for a nation in the name of slaying your brothers and sisters. This war was like no other as it recorded the most foul and immature deaths, murders of both civilians and vets. It was an unfair game as the innocent became the fair game while the soldiers were blinded to see what they were doing was in their line of duty and were acting as freedom guardians as put by their captains who misled them often. Civilians did not see soldiers but murders, intruders and enemies. Being fought for the worst of reasons, fought in the worst of ways destroyed lives and sent the wrong information to some vets was a different mission altogether, which of destruction being blinded that it6 presenting havoc in their nation and fighting not only for the wrong reasons, but a war that was never meant to take place. (Gay and Martin 1996)7 As much as people would sympathize with the vets, they cannot go nor have a glimpse of what they went through unless a war erupted, fought it and luckily lived to see till its end in order to experience the torture, hardships, and aftermath the vets faced. Still this is might not be as severe as this one was. For all wrong reasons, people are led astray, and it begins from the political and the governance background as crucial things are not weighted by context, but precisely on the wrong. They are regarded as less human as they allies with the evil. This is why the veterans are bitter and angry knowing what they fought for was in vain and no lessons were learnt. Jaspers Karl’s study in Germany tries to prove how society’s morals are difficult to change for as long as those living within it find no error or lack knowledge on the truth hence just blindly follow wrongs, set dire examples both knowingly and unknowingly. personally I agree with this for as a child growing up not knowing the superior and the weak, and those you look up fall I the same category, they’ll mislead you and little before one realizes no matter how much you might want to pick, the damage done can be to the extreme some of which you cannot redo. This is the reason as to why the veterans would embrace reunion not only to the entire world on god morals, but also save it as destruction seems to be the chief destination. (Sung 1998) The vets are ignored by most intellectuals apart from Litfon J.Robert and Emerson Gloria who at least has shown concern through directly contacting and enquiring on their condition as they work towards improving it. It’s not evident just here but also among children whose sense of community and that of fair play as it is discouraged, in colleges the best students go unrewarded and those that earlier joined the war in favor of the vets became ignorant of the guidelines that should be leading the intellectual community. The vets need to feel the generosity and warmth within the society to save both history and themselves. Unknowingly the vets may fail to know their right to speak openly regarding moral questions .sadly as some joined the army soon after high school completion and while in the American institutions they were taught to be silence and doubting Thomas’s may find it difficult to air out moral disciplines as gathered by Emerson Gloria. She further explains and says that the vets in their own imagination as to a result of the basics, what they might bring to attention may be opposed.      (Kutler 1996) On their return from the war, they came to a less serious country, and this confused them as this is not what they were used to in the war times. This posed as a threat during this period it took them much more time to adjust and to know the next step to take. I’d say the kind of reception they were expecting was offered or either they were not recognized. That is the reason we should eliminate ignorance as it destroys and erodes excellent morals. The Vietnam veterans have taught Americans many things during the war, and after the war although this has not been recognized by the Americans. It is time to do it Each one of us is in debt with both those that perished and living to maintain excellent moral values, outstanding our own conscience and understands the depths of human generosity within the society.       REFERENCES An, Tai Sung. The Vietnam war. Madison: Fairleigh Dickinson University Press ;, 1998. Gay, Kathlyn, and Martin Gay. Vietnam war. New York: Twenty-First Century Books, 1996. Kutler, Stanley I.. Encyclopedia of the Vietnam War. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1996. Terry, Wallace. Bloods, an oral history of the Vietnam War. New York: Random House, 1984. Warren, Andrea. Escape from Saigon: a Vietnam War orphan becomes an American boy. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2004. Read More