Letters to the Editor
ResNovae
Published Letters: 32
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the path of least resistance is the wrong answer
[Read the article: I enlisted in the Army -- but now I've changed my mind!]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]LW, I agree with Cary in that if you don't want to ship, you shouldn't. Fact is, if you don't want to be there, the military can't afford to waste it's time and resources inducting you. You'd only be a liability. The military is smaller than it should be as it is, and those who are serving don't want to be carrying your dead weight. Joining the military demands a lot, and you need to feel the call to serve to make those routine, everyday sacrifices willingly- never mind taking a risk to protect your fellow Soldiers and your country that could demand the greatest sacrifice.
But I disagree with the responses here that seem to indicate the military is an option for dead beats with no hope and no other skills. Whoever it was that said "recruiting stations are outside community colleges for a reason" had better cure cancer or something...
As the former President Bush recently said- choose a problem in this world, and make it your own. For the men and women in the United States military, it's to serve. I don't expect civilians who know nothing of military life to understand the discipline it takes to resign your free agency to your governement in order to provide the means of an effective defense for your nation. But I am surprised at how quick some pseudo-intellectuals are to trash an institution they know nothing about.
The military is the one place in this country where every individual succeeds or fails on their own merits, and not their race, their gender, or what mommy and daddy could pay for. But they serve, so guys you don't have to. Otherwise, America would go back to the draft... and believe me, no one in the military wants that. A couple idiots who don't want to be there is bad enough without opening the doors to all of them.
Serve your country - and your fellow humans- however you are able, to the best of your ability.
Everyone who joins the military KNOWS it's not the safest job. The difference is, they've accepted that risk. If you can't accept it, you shouldn't be there.
Becoming a DEP-loss isn't the end of the world, or even the end of a potential career in the military. You just wasted someone's valuable time. He or she is not going to be your best buddy over it. But if you are as smart as you say, you had a lot of options when you enlisted. You had your choice of the most difficult schools in the inventory. I'm sure you thought about what you want from your life and your future career, and I doubt it was "some shit job" so you could "get the hell out of dodge."
So do yourself a favor- go back to that test, and think about what your strengths were. Go back to school, and build upon your abilities, and make SOMETHING of yourself.
Whatever it is, I hope it's more productive than some of these people- these "experts" who apparently got all of their military experience by watching movies and MASH reruns on late-night cable.
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Let's just drop it
[Read the article: I Like to Watch]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Fans of the "Highlander" fantasy universe despised the second movie so much, they collectively decided to ignore it. Through two more movies, a television series (and it's short lived sequel), fans, directors, and screenwriter's blithely overlooked an entire movie's existance and any cock-a-mamie theories about the origination of the Immortals or just why, "in the end, there can be only one."
I think we need to do the same thing with the last scene of the Sopranos.
If Tony dies, it could have been portrayed more artistically- like dimming the sound and fading to white, like they used to do to illustrate his fainting spells, or his revelation in the john after puking up his peyote in Las Vegas.
If Tony lives, you could have stopped the movie while he was in the backyard (sans ducks).
Either way, he could have at least finished the scene.
I think Chase wussed out. He couldn't quite bring himself to choose an ending, so, he succumbed to the pressure and bailed on making a choice entirely.
I could have handled ambiguity, had it been portrayed a little more deftly, in a way that makes sense in some sort of narrative structure that didn't resemble ripping the last page from a 350-page mystery novel, or pulling wings off flies to watch them hop until they starve to death. I might have even forgiven David CHase for making me listen to "Journey."
But this final scene of the final episode of the Sopranos contributes nothing to the story. It's only purpose is to irritate those of us who are so pathetic, we actually care about a TV show.
I deal with painful realities every day. The fantasy violence in the Sopranos' world on Sunday nights was a brief, but welcome escape, a chance to examine hatred and greed intellectually, in the guise of fiction, without having to deal with real-world consequences.
I really loved this show... but this ending does feel like a bad joke.
Maybe Chase feels no need to apologize... but maybe he's the one who needs a wake up call. There is a lot of ugliness in the world. And I don't need a guy who makes his living making television shows to remind me how shallow I am. I don't think I needed it to come from the mouth of A.J. Soprano, a character so clueless he thinks they speak Arabic in Afghanistan.
I say, as fans, we exise that pointless final scene from the canon until David Chase comes back and finishes the job.
He shot three+ endings? Great- pick one. Otherwise, as far as I am concerned, the series ends back at the house until we get a better explanation.