Well, I just got to Starbucks after 7 hours straight of class in order to get some caffeine in me to cure my exhaustion and get some Arabic homework done with out my precious puggle disturbing me. In order to celebrate the most exiting thing that has happened to me today, and to digest the lesser exciting things that happened today, I decided to blog really quick. What was that exciting thing you ask?? I walked in to a fall decor here at Starbucks and that only ever means one thing: Pumpkin Spice syrup is back!!! Why is this so exciting? It means I can start drinking my fall drink: Pumpkin Spiced Chai! And tonight I added 2 extra shots of espresso! (I need it)
Wednesdays are always my long days but today was incredibly draining. One, I've had a headache coming on since about 3pm today, slowly, and it comes and goes...maybe that caffeine will help?? But also my Women in War class was incredibly heavy today. My professor decided we would watch documentary on women and the Vietnam War called "Regret to Inform". It was incredibly interesting and incredibly sad. In the documentary American and Vietnamese women shared their pain and suffering due to the War (All of the American women had lost their husbands during the war and the Vietnamese shared their stories of losing their husbands but also had stories of how the war affected them and their families in general). It is fascinating to listen to how the war affected the two nationalities so differently, quite obviously due to their proximity to the war, but at the same time so similarly. I am still digesting the film to be honest with you, it was quite moving, but the bottom line for me was the vast amount of atrocities committed by our military and I found myself trying to remember WHY we went to war in Vietnam and what we were fighting for. From this internal struggle, my reflections this past weekend on 9/11/2001, and the readings from this Women in War class in general I have decided I am adding "Pacifist" to my identity.
This label/day reminds me a lot of the day I proclaimed myself to be a feminist. It was in college after taking a feminist theory class and for the first time I began to understand the relevance, the depth, and the complexities that feminism offers the world and decided I wanted to be apart of that dialogue. It is interesting though because its not like I ever really liked war, so to all of the sudden be a pacifist seems funny, because on some level I always have been, but as of now I identify with the movement and what comes with that affiliation. No matter what side you are on in any war you are affected negatively. Bottom line. I understand the argument of a necessary evil but I no longer believe in the necessity of war to eradicate that evil. This proclamation so to speak is evolving I am sure. I will grow with it, into it, and perhaps away from it in the future, but for now anyway, I do not see the value of war at all. The biggest take away of the documentary in class we watched was how amazingly similar the pain the women described were. Albeit I'd argue that the pain and suffering of the Vietnamese women was/is FAR GREATER than that of the American women, if for no other reason than they did not only lose their husbands, sons, brothers, uncles, grandfathers like the American women did, they lost their homes, their villages, their livelihoods, in many cases their sexual dignity through rape and torture. With that being said, their feelings of loss, their emotions, their confusion of why this was happening to them, their pain was very similar which indicates to me the obvious fact that no one wins in war. Americans lost a great deal in Vietnam, a great deal of men and women went to fight that war, some of them willing, most of them unwilling via the Draft, and too many of them didn't return, and many who did left their souls behind in Vietnam (as one woman described of her husband who later killed himself and I find that description quite moving). Vietnamese arguable lost even more than us, their countryside destroyed, decades and decades of ramifications from agent orange, so many killed, so many people. And for what? Was there no other way to solve the problem in Vietnam? If you say no there wasn't we are on opposite ends of the spectrum, and while thats totally fine to disagree, I challenge my friends and family who see war as the only way to solve a problem to explore your feelings on this deeper and challenge you to look at the effects on women and children in every country war is waged, and in ever country that is waging war elsewhere. And you know, lets step back farther, don't just look at the women, look at the men who suffer. Suffering, pain, loss, these are words that are not subjugated only to women or only to men. They are not used to describe only one side of a war, even the conflicts most divided (like the Israeli/Palestinian conflict which is always all too easy to choose a side and be adamantly against the other which I am blatantly guilty of) have two sides and have suffering on both, albeit most wars have more suffering on one side or another.
Basic human dignity. That is all I have to say in reflecting upon my day. Have respect for basic human rights, dignity, sovereignty...whichever word you'd like to use after human, because we are all human and what we do to each other is atrocious.
On that lovely note, my break time is done, my delicious pumpkin spice chai is well on its way to being gone and I must focus on my Arabic. Its a good thing this Arabic song (one of my faves to do our traditional Dabke dance to actually) came on to remind me of the task at hand: ARABIC. I must master this language, after all our current battle lies in the Middle East, and I'd really like to utilize this language to convince someone, somewhere in this world to stop the fighting, and the way I plan on ending wars is through my words. So lets start treating lawmakers like the children I often babysat and out of frustration when they pout or try to get an unclear message across I'd say "Use your words!!".....US Government, "Use your words", thats all I have to say tonight.
Until next time, use your words!
Much love
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