| Rise Against – Hero of War Lyrics | 14 years ago |
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I am a soldier, currently on my second deployment in Afghanistan, and I love this song, but I think that many people are missing part of, or the whole point of this song. Many of us joined because we are or were patriots, and wanted to be heroes, only after joining we find out that a hero is nothing more than the rhetoric our leaders throw at use to gain support for their wars. That’s not to say that there are no acts of heroism over hear, but not everyone is a hero. Many of us will go home feeling the opposite of a hero and will carry the scars of the horrible things required of war. For anyone who has taken a life, justified or not, it leaves its mark, and it is easy to bury part of ones humanity to cope with war. That being said, I would never beat or torture a prisoner, but I can certainly understand how a soldier can get carried away and do horrible things, especially those who have lost friends. I have heard from many, “just kill them all and let God sort them out,” and in my younger years I have even shared the sentiment, but most of the people over hear are really great people and I can call a few friends. The problem is; you never know if your friend will walk in the next day with a bomb on his chest. Your guard can never be lowered, and that takes a toll on a person. The vehicle next to your convoy could blow up; the kid you buy dvd’s from could have a grenade, ect. Even the constant lack of sleep from rocket/mortar attacks or small arms fire are as the saying goes, is enough to make you “want to kill someone.” The soldier in this song made the right call to shoot the girl ignoring his commands. I would have done the same thing, and felt equally bad afterward, but he couldn’t have known what she was carrying. The flag she was carrying “white as snow,” I take for the white flag of Peace or Surrender, in this case a flag representing peace is the only flag that he trusts. I can understand how he could lose faith in the red/white/blue, but it is our leaders I am disillusioned with, not our country. We are still among the greatest countries on earth, and I take my oath seriously to defend against all enemies foreign and domestic. Right now we have too many self-serving politicians (enemies) in our political system subverting domestic interests, and more than ever we need patriots to stand up for what is right and use all legal avenues to change the system. |
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