I’ve probably spent too much time deliberating about what I should write here, and this is mostly due to how much one empty piece of paper (or in this case, empty draft) can intimidate me. How do I explain a war where millions died and accurately represent the complexity and brutality that occurred?
The tragedy of World War 1 isn’t an unspoken subject, it’s actually far from it. One search of the internet and I found websites, books, and films (such as They Shall Not Grow Old) all describing in detail the horrifying experiences that happened in the trenches and no-mans land. It would be wrong to say that I was never told about World War 1, although the topic wasn’t a common discussion in my household. For younger me, all I needed to know was that many people died, there was a good guy and a bad guy, and that my great grandfather had fought in the war. I didn’t think the topic was extremely important to my life since it had happened so long ago, so I didn’t pursue the topic any further and decided that the information I had was all I needed to know. For a long time I didn’t know about the terrible conditions the soldiers endured and the horrible things these soldiers witnessed. I think this is why, despite the stories being disturbing, I was thankful for how the movie They Shall Not Grow Old presented the war. It was honest about what had happened in the war, and didn’t censor the experiences of those who had fought and seen such atrocities. But again, I didn’t know a lot about this topic until I was in high school. I didn’t even know that the condition Europe was left in after the Armistice allowed for World War 2 to become such a devastating war. Because of World War 1, more people were forced to live in trenches, more dangerous weapons were created to allow for greater violence, and peoples’ mental health was sacrificed for their country. This first war — the “Great” war — paved the way for even more generational trauma; something that has affected older members of my family for multiple generations. Despite this, They Shall Not Grow Old was still able to show that there were good times during the war, and that the majority of soldiers were still able to show empathy to their enemies. World War 1 should not be seen as only a tragedy, but also a success from people who survived such a devastating time.
I love how you showed a piece of your self in this piece of writing. Talking about your homelife made this personal and gave me a more meaningful idea of how your perspective has come to be. Great work!
I liked a lot how you connected your life into the war, it made me think how important this topic must be for you.
They way you explained how you deeply you relate to this story. The phrase “Peoplesโ mental health was sacrificed for their country.” really took me by surprise becuase it is so true and is a topic that should be discussed more.
Amazing job Kate! Contrary to my own personal reflection you used your own experiences of learning about World War 1 in addition to your feelings while viewing the documentary. This was a great way to express your connection with Word War One!
KATIA I LOVED THIS. I really liked how you expressed your feelings in such a way, the introduction was definetly my favourite thing which I related to.
Excellent work Vittoria, I really liked how you talked about how the war impacted the world as we know it today as well as how you expressed your feelings on the documentary. Other than that I wish you paid more attention to small grammar details but other than that great job!