Task 1

The author

The author of the poem, Rainbow Death, Hubert Wilson, was a Vietnam War veteran who served in the USAF Security Service. Hubert along with a dozen or so intelligence school graduates, prepared for about 14 months at Kelly AFB in San Antonio, Texas, before anticipating being sent to Vietnam or elsewhere in Southeast Asia in 1970. About half of them ended up in Da Nang (an Agent Orange hotspot) in the 6924th Security Squadron. The rest of them were assigned to Shemya Island, Alaska, with the 6984th Security Squadron, and what eventually was a more contaminated environment than Da Nang.
His health problems started approximately 15 years ago with unexplained headaches and limb pains. Four years ago, his central nervous system radically deteriorated with Parkinsonian type tremors, severe headaches, progressive limb pains, etc. No physician has ever diagnosed the specific illness. No VA physician has ever rendered any medical assistance. During that time, the author’s number one educated guess is the heavily contaminated drinking water at Shemya during his year there as an intelligence analyst. Organo-phosphate toxins may not run their toxic course until 20 to 30 years after initial exposure.

Since his brain still functions moderately well (and he had mobility issues), the author turned to writing just like his late Father and the late singer (and writer) Johnny Cash.

The Poem

The poem speaks of a modern day ingredient of warfare that has caused appalling death and suffering – not only to its intended victims, the Vietnamese people, but also the service personnel that used or even just came into contact with “Agent Orange”.

Wikipedia reports, “Agent Orange is the code name for a herbicide and defoliant—contaminated with TCDD—used by the U.S. military in its Herbicidal Warfare program during the Vietnam War.

According to Vietnamese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 4.8 million Vietnamese people were exposed to Agent Orange, resulting in 400,000 deaths and disabilities, and 500,000 children born with birth defects.

From 1962 to 1971, Agent Orange was by far the most widely used of the so-called "Rainbow Herbicides" employed in the herbicidal warfare program. During the production of Agent Orange (as well as Agents Purple, Pink, and Green) dioxins were produced as a contaminant, which have caused numerous health problems for the millions of people who have been exposed. Agents Blue and White were part of the same program but did not contain dioxins.”

This poem may remind us that wars aren’t over when the wars are over. Hubert wrote this poem to tell us that, although the war is already over, and that America has so called 'win', suffering is still going on, and it is still going to last for many more generations, that with conflict, war, comes great suffering and sacrifices. Hubert hopes to tell us that no matter which side wins in a war, both will suffer, and that it will last for a long time.

References:

http://www.warpoetry.co.uk/2010warpoetry.html#Rainbow

http://www.poemhunter.com/hubert-wilson/

Education

Have you ever wondered, why is it that we are all still stuck here on this planet Earth?

That there have not been any major new inventions nowadays?

Well for this two simple question, we have also a simple answer, all that is to be blamed is ourselves, the sense of envy which is deeply rooted into every one of us, the education system now, is also another cause to it.

You may be wondering, why is it that it is the education system that is the cause to no major new inventions, only modifications. The education system now, is always teaching us on past knowledge, what the ancients knew and what our forefathers invented. It is always showing us what our forefathers have achieved, the knowledge they have acquired. However, this kind of education is limiting our imaginations, our thinking. It is putting all of us into one small room of a big mansion, stretching over miles and miles. It is limiting us, only allowing us space to explore one small piece of the whole puzzle, keeping the rest away from us.

All of this may not come to sense to you, but there is only one main idea here, that everything that we have here, is limiting us, only allowing us enough space to breath, but not to stretch ourselves until our limits.

Envy lies in every one, and it is only how far to an extent one can control it. Some who can control it, lives in happiness despite living in poverty, some who can’t, will always be on their feet, always planning to strip others of their possession and make it their own and this is the exact situation, going on in our very own society.

As I have said earlier, our education system now, always shows us and tells us what our forefathers have achieved, or rather telling us about great inventers, those who invented things that we can’t live without, and many of those who came out of this education system, no longer hold what the ancients possess, they no longer have the ability to think freely, as their brains are now affected by what they learned, on what others created and many of this education no longer hold the ability to invent but rather they could only improve on what the ancients or our forefathers have created.

It is not that I am saying that this education system now is bad, it is not bad, it have nurtured great thinkers, who are skilled in improving, spotting mistakes and making inventions of our forefathers, better, but it no longer nurtures great inventors, free minds, who think freely, who have the ability to think out of the box, not restricted by the invisible box, created by the now education system.

What I am trying to say here, is that the education system now, is only nurturing thinking minds, minds that study the past inventions and tries to improve it, making it even better. The education system now is somehow teaching the young that what we have now is what we can have, that we will not get more, only better. Look at the cars, we keep on getting newer designs, newer engines, which are modified, improved, but we are not getting new ideas, new inventions.

Look at the past, there wasn’t much education but there were a lot of inventions, the people then had free minds, they pursued their dreams, and made their imagination into reality. I am not saying that the people now don’t have dreams, imaginations, but I am saying that the people now no longer have the ability to think out of the box. Maybe it is those that have great dreams, imaginations, their dreams were rejected by the researchers, saying that it is just not workable, that it is just not possible because science doesn’t say so.

Ah, and this is just what the education system now nurtures. It nurtures people that goes strictly according to the book, people that only believe in things recorded down in the books, and treating everything that is not in there as blasphemy, that it is not acceptable and not true. However, don’t you realize that everything that is in the books we are reading now, was once only merely thoughts, imaginations, dreams of our ancestors, forefathers.

This fact is always forcefully rejected, or somehow ignored by the scholars, that everything the ancients recorded down is true. However, they are ignoring the truth that once people thought that the Sun was rotating around Earth, until someone stood up and say that it was actually the Earth that is rotating around the Sun. The people then objected and rejected this fact, but slowly accepted this truth when everything was clear. However, this will not happen in our times, as it is very clear that the education system now is somehow insisting that every tiny bit of information we are learning now is undeniably correct and there is no space for us to question it.

Look at the greatest inventor, Sir Tom Edison, he was thought to be an idiot during his school days, he spent most of his time out of the classrooms, and therefore he did not receive much education but look at him, he invented so many great things when his teacher thought that he was a complete idiot, so how can the education be possibly right, usable when people that are supposed to be idiots, compared to the standards set up by the education system, was one of the greatest inventor of all times?

This tells us that what this education system nurtures, is thinking minds, minds that tends to improve things, makes betterment, but not minds that holds the ability to think out of the box, minds that have no thinking boundaries, minds that can think freely and are not restricted by the invisible boundary set up by the education system. However, this creates a social balance, or somehow generation balance, the past had been times of somehow unlimited new initiatives, inventions and after such long time of inventions, now is the time for betterment, time for people to improve on past inventions, a time to improve on things that were invented in the past, and some time in the future should once again be a time of inventions and when that time comes, this education system should be able to change, to adapt, or it would be overwhelmed by minds that do not, and will not accept and go through this education system and the world will collapse, it will die of brilliant minds, as I believe those minds will find a way to escape this prison, this invisible box that is limiting us, to somewhere far away, where they can think freely, and be accepted, maybe they would be taken away, or follow some still unknown being to us, to a much more free space, where minds can still think freely.

And when that day comes, all will mourn on the loss, but to only know that all of this is already too late...