life during wartime :: essays research papers

Theres nonhing I can say intimately the parade of still pictures, the faces on the television except, perhaps, that they all seemed to share a fierce pride in their eyes, photographed for the first time in their naval Dress Blues. Surely their families are proud of them. I certainly am, and I never got to know any of them. And now, I never allow.Names bankroll in little yellow letters across the bottom of our impetuous screens Sergeants, and Captains, and Privates. These men brook died for us. More lead follow. We asked them to go, and they went. All across this terra firma -- here and there, sparkling across the map like fireflies on a summer night sedans are slowly rolling to a cube outside of small, modest homes. Men in uniform emerge, straighten their tunics, and head slowly up driveways. Doorbells are rung. Maybe here and there smiles will evaporate in shock and surprise as doors are opened, merely more likely the face will be one sound of stunned realization tha t the very worst thing in the complete world has happened. And children will be sent to their rooms. And the men will treat in somber, respectful tones. And sons and mothers and fathers and wives will be told that the one thing they beloved more than anything in this world has been taken away from them, that their sons and daughters will not be coming home, that their fathers or mothers have gone away and will never come back, not ever. Why do we do this? What could perchance be worth this?The war is an abject and utter failure. What everyone thought would be a quick, decisive victory has turned into an embarrassing series of reversals. The enemy, -- a ragtag, badly-fed collection of hotheads and fanatics has failed to be shocked and awed by the most princely military machine ever fielded. Their dogged resistance has shown us the futility of the vagary that a nation of millions could ever be subjugated and administered, no outlet what obscene price we are willing to pay in line of reasoning and money.The President of the United States is a buffoon, an idiot, a man barely qualified to speak the English language. His vice president is a little-seen, widely hated enigma and his chief military advisor a wild-eyed warmonger. still his Secretary of State offers any hope of redemption, for he at least(prenominal) is a reasonable, well-educated man, a man most thought would have made a far, far better choice for Chief Executive.