WAR!!

---

I am sitting here in my Chicago apartment feeling the breeze come in through the window and listening to the busy city....a nice scene to be in at the moment..but, there is another scene when you enter WAR. I don't want to be 'political' but had to discuss my views on the destructible chaos.

No family members or friends have been taken from the war, but that does not excuse all of the innocent people and other families that have been destroyed and deprived of life from the consequences of war. My first personal experience involved visiting Auschwitz and Birkenau, which was one of the largest concentration camps in Poland. Standing in the middle of a gas chamber, observing the cramped living quarters and walking through the prisons of the concentration camp sent chills down my spine. It was an experience that took me a few hours to absorb and talk about its aftermath. Seeing the movies and reading the books on World War II portrays an unrealistic situation. Yet, stepping on the grounds of mass murders gives you a perspective of how one human being destroyed lives of millions of human beings.

In the same trip, we visited the Choo Chi tunnels, the underground network during the Vietnam War, and War Museum in Vietnam. America presents its perspective and Vietnam presents a completely different perspective on the war. After touring a concentration camp, I realized that concentration camps didn't end at World War II. Americans held Vietnamese prisoners in their own concentration camps. How can a person commit such inhumane behaviors? What if you were the innocent person running around in your village to save your family from intruders and in the middle of it, are captured in a 'wrong place at the wrong time' situation. You now have no freedom over your life, others decide whether you live or die. It was very hard for me to look at the pictures of children deformed because the agent orange chemical and read the stories of how soldiers entered villages and slaughtered innocent people. WHY?

Lastly, Cambodia, which is filled with happy people and simple lives in a tropical paradise. It was World War II all over again, getting rid of all Cambodians that posses a "western" influence. Again, how can 1 person come into power and brain wash its people to think a certain human is not worth living? Walking around the Killing Fields was an ironic experience. It was so peaceful and lush, yet mass killings existed on these peaceful grounds. You wear glasses, you are a doctor, you are educated, YOU ARE KILLED.

I realize many soldeirs are currently off figting for their country and represent security; may those soldiers be safe. However, bring them back and bring them back to their families...

What makes us think that war is the answer? Has war solved anything? Is war helping our country now? Why, must we secumb to violence and think that others are not worthy? Why WAR?

---

Photos

Killing Fields Memorial
The memorial is filled with victim's skulls and bones