from How to Tell a True War Story

By Tim O'Brien

A true war story is never moral. It does not instruct, nor encourage virtue, nor suggest models of proper human behavior, nor restrain men from doing the things men have always done. If a story seems moral, do not believe it. If at the end of a war story you feel uplifted, or if you feel that some small bit of rectitude has been salvaged from the larger waste, then you have been made the victim of a very old and terrible lie.

from What Every Person Should Know About War

By Chris Hedges

The truth about war is hard to confront, especially if we have come to believe the romantic image of war. But confront it we must. It will make us conscious of the sacrifices we demand from those we send to fight. Our young men and women do not deserve to be deceived about the difficulties they must undertake. In a democracy, the voting public must grasp the exacting toll of war. And when we know what it is we face, and the possible consequences, we will be better prepared to cope with the stress, pain, and loss. Those who come back from war will be better able to handle their own trauma. They will understand that they are not alone. Perhaps they will also come to realize that we all need help. We all need each other. War is a cross no one should have to bear alone. "Give sorrow words," William Shakespeare wrote, "The grief that does not speak whispers in the o'erfraught heart and bids it break."

Readings of May 28, 2006