Blog Prompt (2)

In your opinion, how has war evolved from the past to the present? Please use examples to justify your opinions.

In my opinion, war has changed progressively from the past to the present, in accordance to the leaps and bounds made by technology itself. As the world heads towards a technology based society, the use of society is much more prevalent in our present society. As man hungers to make things to provide convenience for themselves, technology is developed to meet the seemingly insatiable appetite of man. On the other side of things, when man have conflicts with one another, technology is used in the wrong way - to combat one another. No matter how sharp a sword is, its ability is entirely dependent on the way its wielder decides to use it, just like how human have used technology for warfare, leading to the evolvement of war from the past to the present.

Adapting from the article, "This time its different", technology has allowed information, be it good or bad, to be spread across the country, across the world, into all our ears. When this happens, warfare becomes increasingly intense. With external sources with different information coming from all directions, the people are easily influenced. An excellent example would be the case of the Middle East war happening right now. The situation that was initially regarded as a minor conflict within Tunisia led to many different Middle East countries rebelling as well. Why? Because technology made it all possible. Social networks transmit information faster than anyone can imagine a few decades ago and certainly, war rises faster than we can imagine.
But we should not neglect the fact that the nature of war remains unchanged, and shall remain unchanged till the end of time. War starts because of hatred, and yet, it breed hatred itself. It is a never ending cycle, where hatred cause war and the hatred caused by war starts another war. The idea of a world free of wars is indeed superficial and unreachable to us right now, but let us work towards that target, no matter how long it takes, no matter how arduous the road is, lets hold on till the end, with hands held together.

Book Review (2)

This book review will be on the book "To Sir With Love", a beautiful classic I found from my cousin's long forgotten book shelve, written by E.R Braithwaite and decorated by his superb illustration of his life.
The book basically talks about Rick Braithwaite, from South America, going to the eastern part of London to find a job. Initially, he witnesses the racial prejudice that is evidently present in his life and the situations he faces and the fact that he is unable to find a job. He then lands himself being a teacher. But never did he expect that his group of students he would be teaching were rebellious students who were regarded as "bad" students by many. However, he manages to make a change in these students, by his special way of treating them. Unlike others, he treats the students as mature adults and talk to them in a matured manner, with the hope of them treating him the same way. In the end, he did received the due respect a teacher should receive from his students just because his respect towards the students was reciprocated. These students who never did respect their teachers and adults in this case, were changed thoroughly.
Although Rick, because of racism issues, was thrown with unpleasant comments by other teachers, he never did retaliate and placed the students as the highest priority. He made sure that his class would not be affected by this.
This book has earned by utmost admiration just because the fact that Rick has gone through so much, tolerated hardships, faced adveristy, all to change the students has touched my heart deeply and the students, who were thought as hopeless, were changed because of this undying determination of their teacher.
It has reminded me of how important my teachers are to me and I would appreciate if those who have not read this book take this book and start reading it.

Blog Prompt (1)

1) Why do you think National Service is important to Singapore?

We are a small-populated country and it is important to build up our own defence. Also, we are unable to afford to maintain a large-standing army, instead, we have to utilise our own working population in times of need. In order for us to do so, we need National Service to train them to ensure that we are able to mobilise them in any case of danger.

2) In the above poem, the speaker expresses his love for his country England. Do you have the same spirit for patriotism towards Singapore? Why?

Yes, I have the same spirit for patriotism. Singapore has shaped me to who and what I am right now. Also, I do not treat this as an obligation, but rather, a choice I want to make in defending the land I was raised in.

3) Do you consider yourself a patriot to your country?
Honestly speaking, I do not really consider myself a patriot to Singapore yet. Most probably, I hope to become a patriot though, but I do not really see myself walking down the path of being a patriot to my country. The main reason to this is because the feeling of closeness and attachment of myself to my country is not forged yet. Maybe, just maybe, entering the National Service would create this bond between the country and myself and by then, I would become a patriot to Singapore.

Book Review

Heroes of Olympus : The Lost Hero
This book is actually a continuation from another series called Percy Jackson. I myself is a huge fan of the Percy Jackson series and of course I would not miss out on this book. The reason I like this book so much is that it embarks on the adventure of young heroes and there is so much suspension as the story progresses. Greek gods are introduced from time to time, changing the situation again and again, and the impossible always seems to happen. This is exactly why it is so interesting.

The whole strory actually revolves around three characters, Jason, Piper and Leo. Jason is a hero who has lost his memory and appeared out of nowhere with his friends, Piper and Leo. As the story progresses, he discovers his identity as the son of Zeus. They are all up against a Gaia, the mother of all gods, and the mother of giants too. Gaia is rising from her slumber and planning to lead the giants to fight against the gods, to overthrow them and to destroy them forever. The giants are also rising, their powers as strong as the gods, and they are using Hera's power to rise, after they tricked her and captured her. Jason, Piper and Leo must save Hera to prevent the uprise of the giants.

The story begins with the sudden disappearance of Percy Jackson, the hero of the titan-war. Jason, Leo and Piper then heads off on a quest to stop the giants after they heard the prophecy,

Seven half-bloods shall answer the call,
To storm or fire the world must fall.
An oath to keep with a final breath

And foes bear arms to the Doors of Death.

The three meet many monsters who were rebirthed due to the uprising of Gaia, such as Medea, and the three of them discovers their power as the adventure goes on. Piper is the daughter of Aphrodite and is one of the special children who has the power of charmspeak, which allows her to convince anyone very easily. Leo is the son of Hephaestus, and is also one of the special children with fire abilities. Finally, the first great challenge they face is a giant on the top of the mountain. As the adventure progresses, Piper has to make a decision, to betray her friends and save her father, or to help her friends and to lose her father. However, after Jason and Leo learnt about it, they decided to do both, save the world and save Piper's father. The battle on the top of the mountain would decide the fate of Piper's father, and fortunately, Jason managed to defeat the giant single-handedly.

Then, Jason must head on to save Hera, and before Hera could be fully saved, the great giant rose from the ground and Jason must face him bare-handed without his sword after he lost it at the battle of Mount Othrys. Just at the point when Jason is about to lose, Hera is released from her cage and the giant escapes as its powers are still not fully developed and is unable to fight Hera. The whole adventure ends at this point and at the end of the book, the three meet up with the others at Camp Half-Blood and finally realises that there are two camps, the Greek camp and the Roman camp. Jason is actually an exchange who was originally from the Roman camp which Hera brought to the Greek camp to unite the two camps together. Soon, they realise that Hera has brought Percy, the hero of the Greek camp, to the Roman camp to unite the two camps together too. The story then ends like this, with the prophecy unfinished and the three realising that their next destination is Greece, where they would face the giants as the giants try to destroy the origin of the gods.

My favourite character in this book is Leo. Although he is not the main character of the book, he is portrayed as a essential character to help fulfil the prophecy and his positive and humerous attitude really captures my attention. His fire powers are also something which I have been dreaming to have since young and I really enjoy the way the book describes his fire powers and the way he uses them.

I am really awaiting the next book of this series, which is Heroes of Olympus : The Son of Neptune. I sincerely hope all of you would try to read up on this book, and I shall not say anymore and let the book do the fascination itself.

Home Based Learning Assignment

Based on your understanding of the selected poem, perform extensive web research and write a report on your blog detailing the conflict represented in the poem(s) of your choice. Bear in mind that this piece of background information will allow your blog audience to further understand the poem as well as your analysis of the poem in Task 2.

Answer:
Steve Carlsen is an American soldier who experienced war in Afghanistan. We can see this from the "Hindu Kush" used in the poem. In 2001, American was having strong and opinionated views of retaliating against Afghanistan after the 9/11 incident and this led to military combat between the two nations in the year 2001 and 2002. Steve Carlsen was called out to the battlefield.
The main message of this poem is that war taints and scars your heart such that it can never be removed even after the war has ended. One would not understand how it would feel like to be in a war, seeing your very comrades die before your eyes.
War also throws you into a situation where you are forced to kill other to survive. It is a choice of whether to kill others and survive, or not to kill and die instead. This can be evidently seen from "The only reason I survived that day was divine, I kept pulling the trigger and reloading and pulling some more". Also from "I spent my time in hell", we can say that Carlsen was forced to kill all his enemies with his bare hands and that was a torture to him, leading him to be scarred by the war forever. The brutality of war is something that distorts one's mind, one that has experienced it and this distortion remains unchanged for the rest of that person's life.

Complete the template provided below (Annex A), focusing on (1) Point of View; (2) Situation and Setting; (3) Language/Diction; and (4) Personal Response, and post your response to Task 2 on your blog.
Point of View :
The voice is extremely dramatised in the poem, except the part when it starts to fade as it reaches the end of the poem. The poem progresses at a rather fast pace, changing locations only after a few lines. This is probably done as the war he is experiencing is also rather fast, seen from "30 seconds they yelled, Lock N Load and grab your shit". This effect may also be created from the fact that Steve is a soldier who has never experienced war before and things are progressing too fast for him to be able to comprehend. Perhaps, only his body is reacting to the precarious situation at war but his mind is left in a daze, completely stunned by the utmost brutality of the war he sees right in front of him. 'Where we would land we had not a clue" tells us that he is himself does not know what will he be facing.

Situation and Setting :
The climax of this poem is produced from a build up of events. Initially, Steve was in a plane, unsure of where he was going, thus creating a slight tinge of suspense. Then, "30 seconds they yelled, Lock N Load and grab your shit" plunges the reader into a fast paced situation where is suddenly thrown into a daze by the turn of events. The climax is then emphasised by the strong use of imagery, "I kept pulling the trigger", "from valley to mountain peaks, " From house to cave, to car to creek". All these expresses the sheer intensity of the battle Steve was facing, such that they had to fight from places to places and the apprehension wanted to be emphasised in the climax is achieved here. There are two conflicts in this poem, the conflict between the two nations and the psychological conflict within Steve's mind. The conflict between the two nations will be resolved when the two nations make peace with each other, however, the conflict within Steve's mind will never be erased no matter how hard he tries and this is one of the message Steve is trying to bring across. War will always resolved after a period of time, but the impacts of war are everlasting and will remain as it is no matter how long time passes and Steve is able to express this well, from "I spent my time in hell".

Language/Diction :
We can see that the language used in this poem are very extreme, such as "terror I can't define", "Who knew hell was so close to God", "Washed in the blood, and baptised by fire." These terms are use to express the extreme fear one faces in war. "Washed in blood" tells us that one's entire being is immersed in the extreme killing and brutality of war and baptised by fire tells us that one's soul is immersed is forever tainted by the killing he sees, just like the meaning of baptism, which means that one's soul is eternally cleansed.

Personal Response
I feel that as I read this poem, no matter how hard I try to comprehend the situation Steve is trying to express through his poem, I am unable to fully understand for myself how war is actually like. I believe that Steve is trying to bring across this message too, that one would never ever understand how desperate, brutal a war can be unless he himself experience it himself and he is also trying to say that one should never want to experience it because it scars our entire being for the rest of our lives.

War - Living Hell

On the coast of Omaha, tension was building up. Never once it had been so immense, so strong, to the extent that I was suffocating. The boat moved on the gentle waves. Everything seemed so unbelievable. I was at home just a day ago, without a single tinge of fear, enjoying myself as always, then I was pulled into the army. Now, I find myself facing the battlefield, surrounded with those suffering the same fate as me.
The death call was made. The higher-ups ordered the barricade to be pulled down, and that meant that we were going up on the battlefield in no time. As the barricade were pulled up, the bullets came flying in without anticipation. Our frontline was shot down, in an instance. I was petrified. It was probably the first time I saw so many people killed in a single instance. This scene clinged on to my memory for a long amount of time, repeating itself without invitation every single now and then.

Descriptive Assignment

The sky was an overcast. The sunlight that once shone on the streets of Vietnam were being drowned by the dark clouds slowly but certainly. It seemed that the hope of the people were drowned as well. The aftermath of a deadly war was horrid, every drop of blood brought back painful memories formed during the war, and there was blood almost everywhere. Regardless of which body part, everybody, the young, the aged and most significantly, the soldiers, were wrapped in bandages such that it seemed that Vietnam was a bandage-producing country.
The emotions of the people were obvious. They have lost the war, but more importantly, they have lost their family. The pain they faced could be evidently reflected on their faces. Just as one looked at the pond where once overflowed with happiness, one could only see the sorrow clearly reflected by the water, who witnessed the whole turn of events.
Heading towards the center point of the war, people were spread around the whole area. Doctors, nurses and even the people who had the ability to offer help were moving as fast as they could. But they were outnumbered, not by the enemies, but by the injured soldiers. At every single corner of the city, there would be a soldier groaning in pain. They have fought for the country, but now, not everyone could fight for their own lives anymore. The doctors tried as hard as they could, so did they, but it all seemed that it was effortless. Many have lost their lives, their family, many have suffered in pain, in sorrow, but let their spirits hold on to the end, for the soldiers have fought not to see a degrading Vietnam, but a Vietnam hopeful of surviving the war.