The Motivation is Approval

“You can’t please everyone.” This is a common saying that comes up whenever a decision is made that involves a large amount of people. No matter what decision is made, there is always someone who is disappointed. In some cases however, a decision is made where a large majority of the people are dissatisfied. This so happens to be the case of the Vietnam War. When the decision was made to invade, the American public became extremely dissatisfied, especially since many called to fight in the war were drafted and simply had no choice in the matter. This escalated into mass protests and many “hurt feelings.”  An example of the turmoil in America during that war is the story “On the Rainy River” by Tim O’Brien. However though O’Brien’s story can be seen as a direct reflection of the typical emotional turmoil the draftees went through during the Vietnam War, it is also a reflection of the basic need of wanting to be understood by others.

            In this story O’Brien speaks of many things. One of the things that he first conveys are what he calls his “convictions” about the Vietnam War. He believed that “Certain blood was being shed for uncertain reasons…The very facts were shrouded in uncertainty: Was it a civil war? A war of national liberation or simple aggression?” (O’Brien 40). From this it is clearly seen that he was one of the “unhappy majority.”  He knows that he does not have all the facts and because of this obscurity he cannot bring himself to support the war that his country is waging. Yet though he did not understand the war and why it was being waged, he still took a stand against it. According to O’Brien “I had taken a modest stand against the war. Nothing radical…just ringing a few doorbells for Gene McCarthy” (O’Brien 41). The war was forcing him to take a stand on something he had little understanding of and so he took the position that seemed best to him with what information he did have.

            Another things that O’Brien speaks of is of the thoughts that went through his mind when he first opened and read the letter telling him that he was drafted for service in the armed forces of America. The first stream of thoughts focused on what he was, and how he was “too good for this war” (O’Brien 41). The stream of thoughts then went towards what he didn’t like about the idea, and about what he didn’t want to do.  They then went on to how it was unfair and how all these other people should be the ones who were drafted, the ones who supported the war. He ends with saying “I remember the rage in my stomach. Later it burned down to a smoldering self-pity, then to numbness,” (O’Brien 42). The instant he read the letter his thoughts went into a negative down spiral, and he was instantly unhappy.

However, the thoughts that went through O’Brien’s head were acted upon in the only way that he could think of to do: run away to Canada. For him the decision to go to Canada wasn’t easy. He struggled with it for days because “I feared losing the respect of my parents. I feared the law. I feared ridicule and censure…it was easy to imagine people sitting around…slowly zeroing in on the young O’Brien kid, how the damned sissy had taken off for Canada” (O’Brien 45). Even though he had strong convictions about not going to war and how he personally didn’t want to go, he was still affected by the others around him. He wanted to make the decision that was right for him, but he also didn’t want to lose the comfort of his family and the town’s approval. Yet despite all of this he did take off and head towards Canada, but as the story goes, he does come back and join the war.

Today, there are still many who flee to Canada as a safe refuge from duty in the armed forces of America. In an article by David King, there is mention of several draft dodgers. The first is Patrick and Jill Hart. The article speaks of how they were a strongly rooted military family until the wife got a call from Patrick telling her he was not going to come home. She suspected that he was actually in Canada and according to the article “‘One part of me thought he was not coming back," she says. ‘The other thought he just got tickets to Ozzfest and went insane.’ But her first assumption was correct: Patrick Hart had gone to Canada. His parents had arranged for him to cross the border and meet with representatives from the War Resistors Support Campaign” (King). Later in the article it speaks of how Jill realized that she wanted to be with her husband and so she took her son and met up with her husband in Canada. The reason why Patrick Hart and later Jill and her son went over to Canada is because they found a group of people who were willing to support their choice. They found the acceptance and approval of their actions that all humans inherently needed, so it enabled them to make a hard choice.

O’Brien was not the only person who was drafted and who also took a stand. A man named David Miller took a more extreme stand towards the war. Instead of taking a “modest stance” against the war, he decided to make his position clear to the American public. What David Miller did was to “burn his draft card in protest of the Vietnam War, after it became a felony to do so” (Griffin). This act told the Americans three things: That he did not approve of the war, that he is not wholly obedient to the system, and that he was prepared for the consequences that his action would bring. Miller saw his options and he decided on the course that he felt would be the best the one that would grant him the kind of approval that he was looking for. He was not the first person to burn his draft card openly, but he was the first to do it when there was a federal law that specifically disallowed the action. He later became famous and today he still openly speaks out against what he feels is wrong. His response was unique, yet at the same time it was the typical feelings of the draftees even if they did not actually follow through with those feelings.

Soldiers today experience a different kind of pressure in their own way. Many who are Iraqi war veterans have problems with assimilating back into the American culture. They were used to being in war, where every day they had to be fully alert and their lives were constantly in danger. When they get back home many of them are “not the same.” Many of them come back with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, which is when someone has seen or experienced something that affects their mental state and generally causes emotional reactions. Some people do not know how to deal with the different emotions, and the fact that the Iraq war is very unpopular back home often results in them feeling cut off from their home. In an article found in the Arizona Republic, an article written by Amy Lee Chan has this as one of the first sentences “Ziegert, 37, developed post-traumatic stress disorder, and without a support network to help him, he spiraled into alcoholism, drinking a 12-pack of beer and half a bottle of whiskey every night” (Chan). This soldier had come home to find a depleted checking account and a missing wife. Yet the most important phrase in this sentence is “and without a support network to help him.” Ziegert came home to find that there was no one to accept his actions over in the Iraq war. He sought out the approval of his wife, who abandoned him and hooked up with his best friend. As a result, he crumbled and became an alcoholic.

Yet these actions and emotions show one particular thing: the pressure and need of wanting others to support you. No matter what decision a person is making, there is an inherent longing to be understood and for your actions to be acknowledged by others. Everyone has a different way to be acknowledged. For O’Brien, it was the way the old man silently let him stay at his lodge without asking questions. David Miller sought out his acknowledgement by openly burning his draft card where others could see him and either approve or disprove what he was doing. Even being thrown in jail was a type of approval for Miller, because by convicting him the government had to admit to what he did. These things show that no matter what the position or stance that is taken by a person, there always needs to be a reaction from other people. 

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Works Cited

David King.  "IN CANADA WE TRUST. " Metroland  6  Jul 2006,Alt-Press Watch (APW), ProQuest. Web.  7 Nov. 2010.

Griffin, John P..  "FIRE STARTER; Syracusan DAVID MILLER was the FIRST ACTIVIST to DEFY the LAW and BURN his VIETNAM WAR draft card. " Syracuse New Times  15  Dec. 2004,Alt-Press Watch (APW), ProQuest. Web.  7 Nov. 2010.

Michelle Ye Hee Lee.  "Help for soldiers, kin coping with effects of service. " Arizona Republic  20  Jul 2010,Arizona Republic, ProQuest. Web.  7 Nov. 2010

O’Brien, Tim. The Things They Carried. First Mariner Books, 2009. Print