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| i was worried because i never had a "home country"... this was me: born in peru, childhood in nigeria, adolescence in germany. and whenever someone asked me where i was from, i'd have to tell the long long story of my father's job and where i grew up and why i can speak english. it confused many people, so they never asked again. but those who weren't confused would ask the second question: which place did you like best? and the third: which county do you think of as "home"? it's not easy. by rights, my home should either be germany or peru, due to my parents' nationality, but i lived a longer time in nigeria. it's not easy. today i saw a movie of a story that occured during the second world war, here in germany. it was about a couple of 16 year old boys, with their lives ahead of them, their dreams, their problems at home or with girls. and then they were called in from the army, and on the second day of their training, were sent to defend a bridge from the allies. all but one died on the 16th april 1945. the movie is called "die br�cke" (the bridge). the army had told them that it hoped their country could count on them in the crucial moments, and that every squared meter gained is a victory, and rather than losing a single squared meter, each solider must be prepared to sacrifice his own life. these boys had their whole lives ahead of them, everything, their mothers, fathers, girlfriends, teachers, all of them praying for their safety. but they took the words of the army greatly at heart, and died and killed for a single bridge, when germay knew that the war was lost already. and this is just one story of THOUSANDS. how can anybody be willing to risk his or her own life, to take life, for the sake of a single piece of land, for a squared meter? how the country demand this of young teenagers? who did the country think would be left after the war?? i think you need to see the movie. then you will understand my rage and how fucking crazy it is to die for a squared meter, for a bridge that would be blown up anyways, to die in a war. maybe you think there's a lot of honor in it. maybe there is. maybe i am wrong to critize, after all, i have no home country. but after that movie, i was happy i didn't. then no country can demand from me to die and kill for it. even as a child, a teenager. the older men in the movie, wounded and bleeding, told the boys, "go home. you don't know what a war is. save yourselves." the boys called the wounded men cowards and traitors, and threatened to shoot them. is that right? many times in the movie, a wounded man with white bandages everywhere would been seen next to a 16 year old boy dressed up as a soldier. for the contrast. to show how young this boy really is. maybe i am very very wrong to critize, but i see it this way: why not just see the world as one place we all have to share whether we like it or not this world is equally mine, equally your's, equally everybody's. forget the home countries, the fucking patriotic killings and dyings, live and let live, and instead of dying for your country live for your world. climb through the bathroom window not had enough of the sixties |