Chapter 8 Big Idea

Chapter 8 Big Idea

In war there is typically two sides. There is the country or side from which you are on, and the other other country or side which you are opposing. You don't know the people on the opposing side. Yet when you are told they are your enemies you believe it. And when you receive the command to fire at them, you do. You begin to spray bullets across the battlefield at mere strangers whom you’ve never had the pleasure to meet.
“A word of command has made these silent figures our enemies; a word of command might transform them into our friends.” (page 194) Every person has a story and a life that most people don't get the opportunity to learn about. People have families, wives, children, jobs and even pets they want to be able to return to. “Fire!” And instantly that is all taken away from them forever.
Paul returns to a training camp that is located directly next to a prison full of Russian soldiers. They speak little German and beg for food most of the time. “In the evening they stand again at the wire fence and the wind comes down to them from the beech woods. The stars are cold.” The Russians are like aliens or creatures that deserve no attention. How can humans just like you and me be treated with such awfulness? I believe the golden rule could solve a war. Would you want to be treated the way they are being treated? Wouldn’t you fight for what they want if you were in their place? So why not make a compromise.
In war you are given instructions for everything. When to march, when to salute, when to charge, and even when to kill. Your enemies are even chosen for you. There is only one thing that deep down inside everyone would like to have and after this thing was declared there would be no more commands or things dictated for you. This one thing is peace. But in a war like this peace seem sos foreign and an unreachable dream. So in the meantime why not kill another stranger? I mean they were ordered to kill you too.