Graffiti Wall

While doing this project I thought a lot about our guest speaker, Sean’s story. He had some great insight on war and peace that drew my attention in. He explained how much of it was a battle for him personally. A great culture shock no one really goes through until being in that type of situation. He was very adamant about wanting to help others after being in these torture zones and I thought this was enlightening. He didn’t want to go to war any longer and instead realized how much more of a world is out there that he had never known. He wanted to help and make a difference. After hearing his passionate story it brought my ideas for this project. First, I chose a picture of a soldier that turns into a little boy playing. This caught my attention immediately because of the reality it captures. It reminds me of some of the books we have previously read, especially, A Long Way Gone. It truly shows that young boys turn out to be tough military men and lose a sense of their innocence, as Ishmael does. Even as Sean said, he would never put his son into that environment, there is too much to handle and go through at such a young age.

The next picture I chose was of a family. And more specifically a military family. War can affect the family in so many ways and can be a true barrier between relationships, as it did for Ling in Revolution is Not a Dinner Party. Families somehow always get affected in detrimental ways by war and Sean added two important points. To start, he missed two years of his son’s life, and then while he was away at war, a little boy came to help them with their search because the boy said it was ruining his family. With all of these young kids running around in a danger zone, Sean realized how much he missed his family and how blessed they were as a family to be living and experiencing life the way they were. He knew at this point that he needed to be home.

I then added bravery, honor, respect, and certainly peace to this because each one of these words represents so many situations with war, family, and even culture. We all may have a different culture but as it has been discussed so clearly through out this course, we should appreciate and get to know these differences. Not let it separate us. Peace intertwines with this as well because we will always want peace presented to us. But we cannot find this peace until we find it in ourselves. It is not just about fighting in the war; it is about creating the peace we want to see. Even though this peace can be broken by war. One of the quotes I found really demonstrated peace and war, “The real and lasting victories are those of peace, and not of war” (Ralph Waldo Emerson). A very bold but truthful statement. While soldiers and characters from each one of these books represent the bravery they put forth for their families, the honor and respect they deserve when at times they don’t, is a time we have to acknowledge and realize the important things that are going on around the world today that we do not think about. It is about making the difference we want to see in the world.