"John D. Giorgis" wrote:
> At 10:18 AM 5/26/01 -0700 Christopher Gwyn wrote:
>> however _very few_ of them went to were intent upon 'giving their
>> lives'. understanding that an activity has a high likelihood of death
>> and undertaking it anyway does not mean that a person is 'giving' his
>> or her life and using such rhetoric both sets up an artificially and
>> unobtainably high standard for heroism and disconcertedly implies
>> that they preferred death over returning to their loved ones.
> I disagree.
with which part?
> These soldier knew that these goals would require a great many of them to
> die.
no. they knew that there was a very high likelihood that a great
many of them would die. choosing a probability is different from
choosing a certainty. (would you ever consider buying a lottery
ticket if you knew that you could not win?)
> Although each of them would have greatly preferred to not be chosen
> to die, each and everyone of them was prepared to do so when called.
??? who chose who died?
i would grant that 'each and everyone of them' was prepared to risk
his life, but i am very skeptical that each was prepared to die.
> Like this:
> This goal will require 40% of you to die today.
a probability, not a certainty.
> Simply placing themselves in that position was a tremendous sacrifice.
yup.
> This sacrifice places them above and beyond the ordinary citizen.
in some ways. but by placing the definition as high as you do you
make being willing to take such risks look like something that most
citizens simply cannot do. ("i don't want to die, therefore i am
unfit to be a soldier" and "soldiers must be crazy since 'wanting to
die' is part of being a soldier". neither image is good for
recruiting.)
> For each soldier that was lucky enough to survive, they were simply happy
> to have their lives back.
that is certainly true!
> Becoming a soldier is like putting your life in a box and handing it to
> someone else, not knowing if you'll get it back.
however it does not amount to seeking death, it is a matter of
risking death while hoping and trying very very hard to be one of the
lucky ones.
regards,
christopher
--
Christopher Gwyn
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
