Re: Hurtgen forest (Will's anti war/evolve response)

>
> When I raised this topic before, everyone hustled away
> like shocked Puritans, thanking God they had never been
> so tested & piously denying any regret, such as I felt,
> at having missed what still seems to me one of the great
> defining experiences of being a man.
>
>
When Scottie wrote this I had to take a deep breath...maybe war is a
way someone of his generation might define being a man, but I don't
define manhood in terms of war. Yes, I was raised to do so, and yes,
the two men I loved most on this planet were WWII vets and I learned
about their war experiences in detail, but NO, they never taught me
being in a war was good or about being a good man. And yes, I did
teach them that the hope for the future was young people who
understand that war solves nothing.

You want a defining experience? Write a poem...help someone...but
making old men feel superior and more powerful because young people
die killing each other is just a stupid fantasy. There's nothing,
nothing romantic or identifying about fighting war. Not for right or
wrong reasons, not for any reasons does the death and destruction of
war satisfy any reasonable thinker's idea of maturation. When humans
understand this simple point, we'll improve. Some think there will
always be war, but we on this Salinger list know to respect brilliant
and less typical thinkers. I think humans can evolve beyond using
conflict, beyond a simple sense of winners and losers to define
themselves creatively and peaceably. It's bullwah when someone says
war made them feel really alive or defined a true moment of
courage...that's just hollywood illusion. Facing death and creating
hurt doesn't make one alive, it makes one human, and less human than
those I hope we will become, will

PS: I did wonder however if bleak ending of "The Inverted Forest" is
linked to Salinger's difficulties at Hurtgen though.
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Received on Sun Aug 11 09:30:31 2002