It is curious how war have been constantly defended by different nations along the history. Most of its defenders idealize war as an aggressive but necessary step that a country should face in order to rise and be seen as the most powerful and influential in front of their enemies. What they do not understand is the prices that the society is paying in order to satisfy the ego of those who desire more power in their hands instead of thinking about the well-being of their nations and the future generations.
As we can see in Dulce et Decorum Est by Wilfred Owen, the war is an event that endangers our society by perverting every part of our lives with its violence and dishonor. It perverts the soldiers' minds in the sense that its aggressiveness force our younger generations to transform themselves into monsters desirous of blood and vague glory. A topic as important as death is transformed into a trivial business that will bring honor and success to the nation and to the soldier.
What our young soldiers do not understand is that war is a situation in which glory could not exist.One of the meanings of the word "glory" is great beauty, so we should ask ourselves: "Hey, Is there any beauty on acting as a coward and killing other to satisfy an empty conviction that will bring power to a few and suffering and pain to thousands? Is there any satisfaction on dying in a trench while others has sent you to die to a place far away from your home? And why? For your country? The same notion of "country" that has perverted the technologies by inciting scientists to create weapons and use science in order to kill others? Is that the same country that have let your friends and family die in the trenches?
War is not sweet, it taste as blood. War is not right, it is the inhuman.
References:
Owen, W. (1920) Dulce et Decorum Est.
-http://www.enotes.com/topics/dulce-et-decorum-est/in-depth
http://www.articlemyriad.com/analysis-dolce-decorum/
Paloma,
ResponderEliminarI could not agree with you more. From my perspective there is no heroism in killing others, there is no honor in defending a country which does not defend you, and there is no victory after a war, since you do not win anything, you just lose your humanity. Furtheremore, I would like to ask you about the concept of epic. For many people, wars are epic events that are part of our history. Do you think that wars are really epic events? I think they are not, since epic is related with heroism, humility and greatness.