So many men,just dropping dead,disappearing amidst all the smoke and rubble.Fire spitting out of guns, burning men alive.Ceaseless shots fired.The very ground exploding under grenades.Fires,billowing smoke,and death everywhere.Men whose very intestines had been blown out.Men who had lost limbs.Decaying bodies being fed on by rats.Worms eating away at the eyes of a dead man.Countless bodies piled away on top of each other.
And then came a man who faced such inhuman violence, sans weapons.He enters the bleak battlefield as a combat medic,with nothing but a helmet and medical supplies.He keeps going back there to save men fallen in battle,the only thing keeping him going being the need to save, "one more".He saved 76 of his fellow soldiers in the the Battle of Okinawa,during World War II.The Conscientious Objector - presumed to be a coward, a thin "cornstalk" to be protected from high winds - became the bravest man to serve the US military,to such an extent that the men of arms would not go out to war without their new saviour. Men who had hardly more than a Bible or the photo of a loved one to hold onto finally had hope - hope that they could return home after serving the nation.
The way one man's face lit up,when he was found by the medic - "I thought I had gone blind" - that was enough to save another.
He could not just stay safe at home when everyone else had enlisted to fight. But he would not resort to violence.There were enough forces already breaking the world apart;there was nothing wrong in trying to put back some of it together.
Yet, he was humble. He said the true heroes lay in the war memorials -men who had gone down fighting.It was not in disrespect that he denied arms, it was so that he could bring as many wounded back to life,as possible.
He was awarded the Medal of Honour, the highest honour of the US military.
He passed away in 2006.
Private Desmond Doss. Lynchburg. Hacksaw Ridge.
- - - - - - - - - - -
Why do we complain and make faces at the most minute inconveniences when there are men out there, men whom we don't even know, who protect us from death every minute of every day?All of civilization, especially the cities, where people care about nothing but themselves, seems a big joke,when viewed in this light. We too fight, on a daily basis, albeit for silly reasons.If only we learned to appreciate every precious moment of this life!The problem is, even if something instigates in us the thought that we need to change,such as a book or a movie about suffering and loss,it is momentary.Those of us who have the luxury of a different life, take it for granted and move on.It is like Gregory House said - "I cared.For eight seconds.Then I got distracted."We hoard trinkets, and others take advantage of this tendency to create a business.It is a sick circle.And the poor get poorer and the men on the border keep fighting,keep dying.Is there any hope for humanity?
I also recently saw 'Everest'(2015).The ways in which lives are lost can be ironic.Some go in search of rare beauty and a rush of adrenaline and are unexpectedly shoved into the face of death, whereas others willingly confront death as part of their job,serving their country by keeping enemies at bay.Nevertheless, numerous men just disappear, their bodies not even found, and the grieving families devastated by the irreparable loss.
And then came a man who faced such inhuman violence, sans weapons.He enters the bleak battlefield as a combat medic,with nothing but a helmet and medical supplies.He keeps going back there to save men fallen in battle,the only thing keeping him going being the need to save, "one more".He saved 76 of his fellow soldiers in the the Battle of Okinawa,during World War II.The Conscientious Objector - presumed to be a coward, a thin "cornstalk" to be protected from high winds - became the bravest man to serve the US military,to such an extent that the men of arms would not go out to war without their new saviour. Men who had hardly more than a Bible or the photo of a loved one to hold onto finally had hope - hope that they could return home after serving the nation.
The way one man's face lit up,when he was found by the medic - "I thought I had gone blind" - that was enough to save another.
He could not just stay safe at home when everyone else had enlisted to fight. But he would not resort to violence.There were enough forces already breaking the world apart;there was nothing wrong in trying to put back some of it together.
Yet, he was humble. He said the true heroes lay in the war memorials -men who had gone down fighting.It was not in disrespect that he denied arms, it was so that he could bring as many wounded back to life,as possible.
He was awarded the Medal of Honour, the highest honour of the US military.
He passed away in 2006.
Private Desmond Doss. Lynchburg. Hacksaw Ridge.
- - - - - - - - - - -
Why do we complain and make faces at the most minute inconveniences when there are men out there, men whom we don't even know, who protect us from death every minute of every day?All of civilization, especially the cities, where people care about nothing but themselves, seems a big joke,when viewed in this light. We too fight, on a daily basis, albeit for silly reasons.If only we learned to appreciate every precious moment of this life!The problem is, even if something instigates in us the thought that we need to change,such as a book or a movie about suffering and loss,it is momentary.Those of us who have the luxury of a different life, take it for granted and move on.It is like Gregory House said - "I cared.For eight seconds.Then I got distracted."We hoard trinkets, and others take advantage of this tendency to create a business.It is a sick circle.And the poor get poorer and the men on the border keep fighting,keep dying.Is there any hope for humanity?
I also recently saw 'Everest'(2015).The ways in which lives are lost can be ironic.Some go in search of rare beauty and a rush of adrenaline and are unexpectedly shoved into the face of death, whereas others willingly confront death as part of their job,serving their country by keeping enemies at bay.Nevertheless, numerous men just disappear, their bodies not even found, and the grieving families devastated by the irreparable loss.
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