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Effects of War

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Submitted By mike10bhs10
Words 764
Pages 4
Michael Garcia
English 1301.52
Professor Hailie
July 3, 2012

The Best of Both Worlds

Jimmy Carter once said “War may sometimes be a necessary evil. But no matter how necessary, it is always an evil, never a good. We will not learn how to live together in peace by killing each other's children.” What I think Jimmy Carter means by this is even though we see war and inevitable, war is never going to be a good thing. We will never grow as a whole as long as we keep killing each other’s youth. The youth are fighting in the wars of today many not even being able to see tomorrow. The implications that war brings a sense of supreme power and security to the Americas does not make up for the trauma, PTSD disorders, and emotional detachment issues our soldiers face at the end of the day. Trauma can be experienced one of two ways, physical being wounded or hurt on the outside or mental trauma which is experienced inside the individuals own mind. Both can affect a person’s life drastically, but it’s the mental patients that give the appearance that they have no problems, but upon further examination end up being the lives that where affected the most. In the film “In the Valley of Elah” by Paul Haggis a young woman goes to the police after her war veteran husband drowns their dog in the bathtub, believing she’ll be next only to be turned away. It is very clear that the woman’s husband is suffering from mental trauma. That is why he drowned the dog. Trauma can make you do things you never thought humane. Trauma can change your whole process of thinking. Trauma can change the life of an individual. Car accidents, terrorism, and war are just some of the few causes of PTSD. Kind of like trauma a person diagnosed with PTSD may not always look ill. In fact a person with PTSD can look like a normal everyday citizen. But their brains have been turned to mush that they cant be productive citizens anymore. For example a soldier coming home from a war can have PTSD. For the rest of their lives they are going to re live that event, they are going to avoid any contact with people, and also they will have increased anxiety ultimately not letting them lead productive lives. “In the Valley of Elah” Corporal Steve Penning finally admits to stabbing and murdering Mike Deerfield. He not only says it with a calm straight face, but he also goes on to say he stopped at a local chicken joint after the murder took place claiming he was starving and had not eaten. This only displays the PTSD in Steve Penning. The fact that he could murder one of his comrades and then feel hungry enough to eat right after only signifies the extreme danger that PTSD can bring on an individual. Bringing me back to my point that PTSD can affect you to where you cannot be a productive citizen. When emotional detachment affects someone, it no longer lets that person connect on an emotional level. You lose the ability to feel, and you cannot interact with people in the same way. People that suffer from this may experience frequent mood swings, even though the person may be there physically mentally they is in thinking in another way. “In the Valley of Elah” Hank Deerfield gets a call one morning from his son Mike Deerfield. Over the phone you can hear Mike crying telling his dad to get him out of the service, mike just wanted to go home. All that Hank can think about at this time is if anyone is seeing his boy Mike crying. Hank is clearly emotionally detached and may have suffered this from his time spent in the military. He does not recognize his son’s tears represent fear. All Mike wants to do is come home from the war and go home but Hank does not recognize this. The people that agree to join to military are some of the bravest people we have on this planet. They are arguably the people that suffer the most and don’t get the recognition they deserve for it. Some of the horror and torture that our men and women troops have to face on an everyday basis is extreme and unbearable to most. They face things that no one should face. It can leave you scared for life leaving you with trauma, PTSD, and emotional detachment, to mention a couple.

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