The Undertakers Thirst of Revenge

World War II was an earth shattering event that left long lasting collateral damage, even 20 years after. How does one pick up the pieces after such an event? Some feel the need for justice, revenge, others for forgiveness, and the list of possibilities goes on. 

Several high-ranking German officers and officials were accused of multiple crimes following the wars culmination. These series of military tribunals are known as the Nuremberg Trials. 

Yet this type of bittersweet revenge is ok. Why? Regardless of the circumstance, murder as a justification is still murder. So up to what point is revenge the only necessary measure that it can be justified as a represented act of sanity?

After spending a night on morphine, Billy Pilgrim wakes up and with him are Edgar Derby and Paul Lazzaro. Lazzaro talks about how he plans on having the English officer who beat him up killed after the war. The sweetest thing in life, he claims, is revenge. He says that one time he fed a dog that had bitten him a steak filled with sharp pieces of metal and watched it die in fascination.  

This small excerpt absolutely startled me. I believe it is because I am undeniably triggered by human nature and how it manifests itself when emotions such as jealousy, lust, and revenge come into play. 

"Justice is divine in nature. But condemning people is devilish. If we condemn, then we are condemned." (Matthew 7)

The Persistance of Memory

Time. We have all grown up learning that time is that constant factor by which our entire lives revolve around. Our world resorts around this term of existance. One in which we follow a progressive notion of time, proceeding from past to present to future. Us humans, have managed to bind our lives to this concept, creating almost a time line in which one can only move forward, not back. 

But what if all that was purely a delusional state of mind. A misconception of reality? When do these two worlds intertwine? Or are we simply living in a fixed stage?

"All time is all time. It does not change. It does not lend itself to warnings or explanations. It simply is." Slaughterhouse-Five (Chapter 4, page 86)

Billy Pilgrim's Life Trajectory Till Chapter 5

1922- Born, Ilium, NY (Pg. 23)

1930- Trip to Santa Fe (Pg. 39)

1939- Graduated from Ilium High School (Pg. 23)

1943- Captured by Germans (Pg. 55)

1944- First time Billy became "unstuck in time" (Pg. 30)

1944- Went to Germany. Last German attack (Pg. 32)

1945- Honorably Discharged from the War (Pg. 24)

1957- Elected president of the Lion’s Club (Pg. 49-50)

1958- Banquet of Honor of the Little League Team

1961- New Years Optometrist Party (cheated on wife) (Pg. 46)

1965- Visits Mother in Retirement Home ----> Mother Dies (Pg. 44)

1967- Captured by Tralfamadorians (Pg. 25)

1968- Survives Plane Crash (Pg. 25)

So it goes...

"Death is terrifying because it is so ordinary. It happens all the time." - Susan Cheever, American author, 1943

If one thing seems certain in life, it is that eventually we will die. We all strive desperately to put off that final day for as long as possible, but our efforts to cheat death are insufficient. In my fifteen years of living, I have never stared death in the face. I have always tried to avoid it and keep it as distant from me as possible because of the fear of being "let go." 

As I read the second chapter of Slaughterhouse-Five I noticed that death does not discriminate. Whether rich, young, old or poor, there will come a day when death starts knocking at your door and you will have no option but to let it in. Billy's wife for example, dies of accidental carbon monoxide poisoning on her way to visiting her husband in the hospital after the plane crash. Billy's father died in a hunting accident right before his ship overseas for combat. 

Overall there is not much more to say regarding death except to beware and enjoy because "so it goes." 

Addicted to War

War. What is war? According to Websters Dictionary, it is a state of organized, armed and prolonged conflict between states, nations, and or other parties. It is a defining part of human nature that has grown with society and will never leave us. Yet it is among the most popular topics to critique. Writing an anti-war novel, would prevent war as effectively as writing a book about glaciers would prevent their motion. So why do it? 

This question struck me as I began reading Slaughterhouse-Five, a novel in which the author embeds an actual, external presence within the text, from where he narrates the story of a Word War II veteran who survived the firebombing of Dresden, and is now an aging husband and father who has been for the past years struggling to find a way to write a book about the events that transpired during the war. Claiming to have "come unstuck in time," the events of the novel are narrated in a cyclical manner rather than a linear one as is done in most novels. Flashbacks of the war, along with the decision on weather to write a condemnation of it or glorify war instead, and produce an epic rather than a representation of reality where the basic themes that predominated this first chapter. 

9/11 Loose Change

The Perfect Life by John Koethe

"I have a perfect life. It isn’t much, but it’s enough for me." Its with these words, that American poet and essayist John Koethe begins his piece, depicting the simple yet sufficient young stage in which a human begins his/her life. A place where the present is satisfactory, and nothing more or less is asked for; some people can even say this is a happy place. As one grows older though, aspirations begin to surge, changes begin to occur, and by the time one reaches the bittersweet climax of life, they have come to realize that one is now to old to pursue the dreams they put on hold for so long, resulting in a sudden lost of hope. A place where one is left alone in an empty room, reminiscing about what had been and what will become of this "perfect life."