The most important thing I noticed in the Marlboro Marine would be the feelings that the marine is feeling. Watching that clip I actually teared up not because I have experienced war from his perspective but I have seen PTSD effect a few very close people in my life. One particular person my brother who has also reached out for help from the veterans affairs office. Before when i was slighly nieve i did not understand the hurt my brother feels on a daily basis but as i got closer I could see things in his life that were just out of the ordinary. The first time I knew it wasn't an act was when my mom woke me up at 1:30 am with my brother on the phone saying to talk to him. i was 17 at the time and this was 3 months before my borthers contract was up. He was crying on the other side and it was really muffled. I remember hearing loud sounds in the background but didn't ask what it was. Thank god my brother got out safely and is still with us today it was just a real eye opener. I later found out that the sound I heard were mortar rounds exploding into the building where they were trapped and my brother really thought it was the end. As we were watching the short clip I could see that same attitiude and hurt in his eyes that I see in my brother on a daily basis. PTSD is real, its not a source for attention and soldiers really do experience it. As a Biomedical Engineering major I have come up with virtual reality simulator type of therapy's that could help veterans with PTSD, allowing them to experience simulators that incorporate home life in america and the tents and bunkers and command chain in the military. Its something that has just been an idea on paper for months based off of the Oculus technology that has came out, but hope to someday incorporate it into everyday veteran lifes.
Before i reading this part of Holding On I had never understood the truth behind hobo's, I never knew that they actually worked. I had put the word hobo right there with bum thinking they were the same thing and had the same meaning. So that was a big shock to me finding out the struggles they faced and that they were actually hardworking. If I was in the situation of a Hobo and I had to try and get another place I would post on craigslist to try and find people that are willing to house me while I helped them and while i traveled. I would travel to somewhere warm so that my winters werent so harsh and defiantely somewhere industrialized. I would try and find rides through craigslist like the movie about traveling across america with no money all through craigslist.
It was interesting to find a definition for both bums and hobos. Even with the little that the hobos had and even the distance between their next job they worked as a community by supporting one another with what they had.
ReplyDelete