Tim O'Brien's The Things They Carried has me at the edge of my seat every time I open it. I think of myself carrying 100lbs on my back every day, of the humidity of Vietnam, of watching people constant die. Not having the chance to see my family for months, or reading the letter they sent me over and over again.
It always reminds me of Forest Gump and how he got to see it rain for weeks. I can only imagine how it felt to live the best part of a person's life in those conditions.
O'Brien points out that they were all children. How would a mother feel thinking of her child being shot at, injured or dead? I am not a mother but to have an image like that of my brother would hurt too much.
Funny how war comes to be, how it is fought by the men who just started to live, but authorized by men who really do not see how the world works.
It was very tragic for those who went to Vietnam, and were treated horribly once they came home. Was it really their fault?
Who is to blame for war?
It is really horrible to think that soldiers were treated poorly after the war. they all put their lives on the line for their country whether or not they agreed to be there.
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