Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Sam Hammill Response


Well now that I am officially depressed I will try and write this response. I thought “The Necessity to Speak” was very well written and had some good points about the way things ought to be. There were also many things Hammill wrote that I disagreed with. I feel that because he had such a rough childhood, was in a war, and spent a lot of time with convicts and battered woman, he really dwells on the negativities in life. Most of the article felt like I was reading a list of humanties faults and perversions.
I understood Hammill’s reason for writing this article. I’m sure he wanted people to wake up and smell the coffee. Hammill is right in the fact that people act out in aggression because they don’t know how to express their true feelings or not teaching our children about subjects thought to be taboo solicits that very behavior. We need to speak, to each other, to our loved ones, and our children about all things even though it may be an uncomfortable subject, hence “The Necessity to Speak”. Using words (the correct words) instead of force and intimidation can make this world a much better place. I agreed with Hammill when he said, “nothing will change until we demolish the “we and them” mentality”(Hammill). That statement is so true. When I was in Iraq and had close contact with Iraqi detainees providing medical aid to them. I always treated them like patients and people, no different then I would anyone else. I actually got to know some of the English-speaking guys quite well, and realized besides the cultural differences we weren’t that much different. If we were anywhere else, we probably could have been friends. People are people no matter where you are in the world but over the course of history we have created these imaginary lines that separate us and sparked some age-old competition that makes us fight over petty things.
Some of the things I didn’t like about the article was I felt like he wasn’t giving people or the human race very much credit. I’m not sure when this article was written but I feel like it is a little outdated. When he talks about teenage pregnancy and says that teenage boys and girls don’t know about birth control, I would have to disagree. I don’t know any teenagers that don’t know what a condom is. I would also like to think that most men are smart enough to know that if they see John Wayne or Sylvester Stallone slap a woman in the movies, that it is not o.k. to do that in real life. I use to watch the Friday the 13th movies when I was a kid but I never went to a camp and killed a bunch of people. Hammill must have had a bad military experience also. Although the military did train me how to use a rifle, they also taught me how to heal, and gave me the knowledge to pursue a great career in medicine along with paying for my education. Every generation with the exception of the Vietnam era had the choice to join the military and it was up to each individual to know what they were getting into. Recruiters may go to the high schools but the kids have the choice to join or not.
As I said in my response to a poem assignment, I feel that most poetry and songs are originated from people who have had bad experiences because they need a healthy way to express their feelings. I think that is definitely the case with Mr. Hammill. There is much in the world that needs to change and it all begins with proper communication, as Hammill suggests in this article. I also think there is much in the world that is beautiful and great. Hopefully we can use the good as building blocks and move forward from there. I truly hope that one day we can achieve worldwide peace, but I feel that there will always be an evil in the world somewhere, for what would good be without evil.
http://www.progressive.org/mag_cusachamill

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