well i have been really focused on My Lai. Do not really know what to write about it has me questioning a lot of different beliefs as to why a soldier can do things in a war situation. Anyways i wrote a poem, if anyone reads these i hope you enjoy.

Soldier, lonely like the soldiers one last shell,
Darkness overcomes him, leaves him without breath,
Shoot, fire, hide, all the while, think about death,
Think about nothing else until it is your hell,
With a bullet, the young and innocent never yell,
War is a drug, orchestrating illusions like meth,
The lies, but the eyes the soldier’s tale does tell,
When he arrives, his pain will be his end,
Upon his return, his end will be his pain,
Broken like the wind on a sunny day,
And the last shell becomes his only friend,
On the darkness, the soldier lies slain,
And he owes Hades nothing, no more death no more pay.

FOLLOWING ORDERS?

This week in class we tried to choose a foci assignment for the class to begin a study on. This week I did not learn a vast area of things but I did learn about My Lai. The story of Hugh Thompson really made me think about the age old question “I was just following orders.” On one side of things you have William Calley who is dead set on following the orders he was given. He even believed the orders included killing woman children and basically everyone there. Hugh Thompson however even in the heat of the battle was able to establish that what was happening was wrong and would not cooperate and attempted to stop them.

The thing I found most troubling about these events was the aftermath in which Hugh Thompson was condemned for his actions. It was not until 2001 he was actually rewarded with some gratitude for his accomplishments. It really makes me think about the boundaries of war and at what point is too far. In conclusion it is just nice to see a little humanity in war.

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Learning Journal

So I do not have time to write much sorry folks. But if anyone reads my journals or enjoys my writing I do have great news. I just saved a bunch of money on my car insurance by switching to Geico. Ok that’s not true but I think I’ve discovered the meaning of life sort of speak with this Aquinas class. The reason we have checkmarks. Its so we write for ourselves. And I have probably heard that said 2000 times this year by Thom but it was this week I actually started applying it. Now when I write, I write what I want to write about but try to relate it to our topic, or write in a way in which I would like too. The opportunities are endless. This is the time to be completely original, creative and write basically anything you want. So from now on for learning journals I’m going to start something new. I’m going to try to write stories, and poems and things of that sort and tie them into the topic of the courses. Anyways I’ll be back next week.

A man falls without a care, drifting with a strange look of flying,
A man drifts into the air, oblivious to the fact that he is dying,

Oblivious or proud of what he had done, a nameless man who we know not,
Knowing not his love or if he had one,

But this man is hated and stays without claim, with little sign of mourning while falling,

Maybe it’s like having an arrow without any aim, why spend the last few minutes bawling,
but I hope this man can have his grave, for I do not envy his death,

I hope he has a family and his soul they do save, I hope they give him breath.

South Park

This week in class I’m sure everyone noticed my intolerance towards scientology and the way Thom let me know how I was wrong. At first I was a little pissed off, I’m an emotional guy. Then I thought about it, and as much as I have been trying to be more tolerant, religions or cults like scientology that do not make sense to me, I seem to cast aside with haste and disbelief. I think it’s important to understand that some religions though silly to first glance, can teach messages of love and teach valuable lessons to which we can live our lives. It is easy to belittle, make fun, or laugh at other religions or “cults” or “new religions” but it is even harder to attempt to see the point of the religion or the benefits.
This point that I am trying to make is made very clear in an episode of “South Park” of all things. Those in class who know me, know how much I love “South Park” and references the quirky little messages on life that are displayed subliminally in almost every episode. The twelfth episode of the seventh season of “South Park” is all about the Mormon religion. The entire episode displays a summarized version of the way the Mormon faith was started and how Joseph Smith did so. When the episode shows the flashbacks of the religion being born it does so with mockery, even having a chorus of “dumb’s” in the background during the entire flashback. Meanwhile back at “South Park” the kids and even the parents insult this religion and make jokes at the Mormon’s expense. The entire episode seemingly made to make fun of people of the Mormon religion. This thought however, vanquishes quickly as the creators of South Park throw a curveball in with the last couple lines of the show. The main Mormon kid in the episode says this quote “Look, maybe us Mormons do believe in crazy stories that make absolutely no sense, and maybe Joseph Smith did make it all up, but I have a great life and a great family, and I have the Book of Mormon to thank for that. The truth is, I don't care if Joseph Smith made it all up, because what the church teaches now is loving your family, being nice and helping people. And even though people in this town might think that's stupid, I still choose to believe in it. All I ever did was try to be your friend, Stan, but you're so high and mighty you couldn't look past my religion and just be my friend back. You've got a lot of growing up to do, buddy. Suck my balls.” An entire making you believe one thing is so quickly changed. The first time I watched the show I really felt like a jerk for feeling animosity towards the Mormon religion all show just to have the main Mormon kid lecture Stan on pretty much the way I was feeling.

In conclusion I think the episode of South Park is actually really important because we as a society shelter ourselves from things we don’t deem as normal or acceptable. This kid and his family were nice to everyone in town the entire episode but since they had different beliefs no one accepted them. This is also evident in the reading we did on “new religion” the non-acceptance of the Mormon religion by people, even going as far as to criticize them because their message was about peace and they didn’t want to go to war. I know the episode made me think a lot about my intolerance. I guess I have a lot of growing up to do.

Back into the groove of things students gradually piled into our comfortable home in James Dunn Hall. It was almost strange as if the time apart from each other had brought us closer as we sat there talking waiting for the teachers to compile into the room. After reading an exciting new syllabus for the next term we discussed the important parts of last semester and where we found we learned. It was during this time where we began to discuss what the difference is between a belief and opinion. After more discussion even in our last class I was still not satisfied, I wanted a better answer. While looking up the idea of opinion I came to a conclusion of my own and feel free to dispute it, in fact I welcome it. An opinion is a belief but a less guided one, you can’t formulate an opinion unless you believe in it. There are levels of conviction in which determine whether something is a belief or if something is an opinion. Without solid indisputable evidence your more likely going to have an opinion but you also can’t have an opinion without believe you are right in it.

This week also paved the way for a different way of learning at least for the first month, we would be focused more on disciplines. At first I dreaded the two and a half hour time slot that Michael Camp managed to steal from Russ and Thom after seeing all the time we had journalism I started comparing Michael Camp to Jay Leno and Russ and Thom respectively to Conan and good ole Jimmy Fallon. ( A joke that is only funny if aware of all the drama with the “Tonight Show”) However after a day of class and a reading assignment I definitely had a different attitude. In journalism this week I’ve probably had my two most interesting classes yet talking about nazi propaganda. Also the most beautifully haunting story I’ve read Captain Waskow. After reading Captain Waskow I formulated an opinion that was separate from the rest of the class. Though interestingly after more thought I realized maybe that’s what Ernie Pyle wanted. It was a time where media was censored beyond all recognition I think Pyle was well aware of this but needed to find away around this. I think that is the reason he wrote Captain Waskow. Once again feel free to dispute but this is my evidence, in English we are beginning to do exercises in which authors use a certain way of wording something to convey a certain meaning, Pyle was no exception. In my opinion Captain Waskow is about death and it’s inevitability especially in battle. I see this in the usage of words the author uses. First describing the dead man as alone, and when the third man gets up once again he says “and then he got up and walked away down the road, in the moonlight, all alone.” I don’t think it was an accident that Pyle refers to both the dead man and the last soldier as “all alone”. Finally the final two sentences of Captain Waskow could have been phrased differently if not meant to convey deeper meaning. “ leaving the five dead men lying in a line, end to end, in the shadow of the low stone wall. We lay down on the straw in the cowshed, and pretty soon we were all asleep.” My learning journal is only my opinion but I think Pyle easily could have said “the soldiers went to bed, the soldiers slept until morning.” But he chooses to say “pretty soon we were all asleep” a phrase that can have many different meanings including that the soldiers were dead to the world, or asleep to emotions or that the soldiers eventually died just like their Captain. Please people comment on this I’d love some discussion.