War and Peace
Trip Start
Aug 07, 2007
1
15
109
Trip End
Ongoing
Seoul,
Korea Rep.
Sunday, December 2, 2007
I spent some time today viewing clips on YouTube, mostly about the war in Iraq. Not sure what everyone at home is seeing through the media which is, I believe, influenced heavily by the government. If you want to see first hand what it is like there then jump to YouTube. I am finally heading to the war museum tomorrow with Matt. I will go after meeting Phil and Ryan online in the morning for some gaming.
I think I would be naive to think that war is not necessary to solve certain problems that have occurred or might occur in the world. We have fought for a long time in our short existence on the planet and we might very well continue to fight long into the future. I hope that this will not be the case but only time will tell.
"When you come back from war I will never spit at your feet, I will never call you a murderer and I will never question your bravery. For I have a simple understanding of what war can to a soldiers soul. What I will question is the people who create the war, people who play with your dear lives and use your loyalty to do their wishes. I admire your courage to do what most people cannot do, but soldier I ask this of you: please use good judgement and act with the highest code of morality when striving to do what is right, because it is in hell that you need to be the purest and act with the utmost regard for doing good otherwise the abyss will swallow you whole."
-I wrote this after viewing a video that shows a US soldier shooting an unarmed wounded man in the head in a mosque. The total history of the situation I do not know, I merely saw the shooting and comments made by the soldier who believed the man to be faking death.
Please correct me if I'm wrong but are we to wound in war and not kill?
With every innocent killed there is the possibility to create generations of hatred.
December 3, 2007
A handful of us had a late night at the Terrace, our local watering hole. The place is decorated just like you would see at home, Christmas tree, lights and even a few dancing Santa's. I particularly enjoyed hearing of the plans of Bobby and Gretchen and their future journey across South East Asia. I lived for the moment and it sent me into a frenzy of excitement about when I will do the same style of trip in the future. After, Megan and I continued the party with drinks and an episode of Dr. Who followed by a discussion of whether there is such a thing called fate or can we shape our futures. I rolled home on my long board and hit the sack only to rise four hours later to meet some good old Ottawa boys online for some gaming on the Asian server. Well, we got our asses kicked...until next time.
After gaming Matt and I headed to the Korean War Memorial Museum for the afternoon. As we entered the museum the halls were made of stone slabs with the names of all the soldiers killed in the war from South Korea and the UN force. I stopped and looked at the Canadian portion and looked through the names, gone but not forgotten. Inside it's a large place that had some great exhibits detailing the history of war on the Peninsula from as far back as the Neolithic period. There was a great section showing medieval weapons and armour. We each rented a phone that had English dialogue for each exhibit. Korea has not known real peace for centuries at least until October 2007 when the North and South signed a peace treaty (Wilkipedia). When we arrived to the Korean War part of the museum it made me realize how significant this war, often referred to as the "Forgotten War", really was. And had this war escalated there might have been another World War instead of the equally dangerous, yet hidden, Cold War, which could be seen as World War III.
After World War II the Soviets and the Americans implemented regimes on each end of the peninsula sympathetic to the ideals of Communism and Capitalism respectively. When the North invaded the South backed by China and the USSR in an attempt to unify the country under communism, the UN had to quickly intervene to prevent the entire country from falling to Communism, which if there had not been any support would have happened in a very short time. There was one part of the museum that Matt and I watched that showed a comparison between the North and South's forces at the time of the conflict. The gap was so great that it must have been like the Poles fighting German tanks with cavalry at the begining of World War II. This is probably why the UN backed the war and aided the South. I sensed that there was thankfulness from South Korea for the sacrifices of all nations involved in the war.
Now with peace, the Buddhists or any citizen for that mater, wishing the unification of the Korean People might have their dreams come true. The big question is who will retain leadership, the administration of the North or the South. Will we see a mix of Communism and Capitalism as can be found in China today?
As we headed home we stopped at the last sight of the day, a large statue depicting a South Korean soldier embracing his brother, a North Korean soldier, on the battle field. They stand atop a sphere cracked through the middle which is symbolic of the split that has existed in this great land because of two warring super powers. The brothers are symbolic of the ten million Koreans separated by the divide between the North and the South and the need for reconciliation, love and forgiveness. Now, as trains will run North to South I hope these families can once again embrace their loved ones.
A very sobering day and I am happy to have made it there before the DMZ tour so that I can have an understanding of exactly what I am going to see next weekend. All in all I really think this peace treaty is as significant as the fall of the Berlin Wall on the stage of our planets history and I do believe there will be a unified Korea as there is a unified Germany.
Thanks for reading.
