I was destined to post this....or was I?

Many believe that a major theme of the Lord of the Rings series is destiny, and that each of the characters is destined to do a certain thing. I believe that destiny does play a significant part of each of the characters' lives, however I believe that free will dictates more than destiny does. In my eyes,  the characters make their own destiny by every decision they make. Some of these choices may lead to doom, but if one of the characters chooses one of these doomed destinies, that is just how it is. 


This interpretation is mostly due to my view on life; that there are paths along the way, one just has to choose their own path. It's basically that your choices make your own destiny, in a way. I mean, if you want me to interpret this literally, then sure, every character has a destiny and no free will because an author dictates exactly what these characters do. And people who think that way probably believe that their every action is the doing of a higher power. And I am not dismissing that, for I do not know everything there is to know. I do believe in God...I just believe that he does not do everything for you; you have to make the best of what you've got.


The good Lord will only help those who help themselves

All is fair in love and war.

"The truth is, any government that thinks war is somehow fair and subject to rules like a baseball game probably shouldn't get into one." 

This quote popped up while I was reading and it really made me think long and hard about the Rules of Engagement for soldiers in the United States Armed Forces. In fact, I spent most of my weekend pondering these rules, and if you ask most of my friends about the topic, they would tell you that I asked them about it as well. The Rules of Engagement were discussed in Lone Survivor because the author's team is met by a group of three unarmed civilians as the SEALs are on a secret mission to take out a high ranking leader in the Taliban, and the team is faced with the decision of whether or not to just execute these three "harmless," goatherds. The team KNEW that if they let these men go, then they would certainly alert the Taliban, and this would put the SEALs in a very dangerous spot. The logical military decision would be to absolutely execute these men, because they posed a HUGE threat to the SEALs' mission, as well as their personal well being. Because of the Rules of Engagement, however, if the SEAL's killed these men, then they would most likely be charged with murder back in the United States because of how the Taliban sway the media. Instead of killing these three men and safely completing their mission, they were ambushed by over 140 men, and this ended up costing eleven excellent soldiers their lives. All because SOLDIERS had to worry about being charged with MURDER. Wow. 

I felt that I needed to make another paragraph after that rant. But this really, really angers me more than anything. Why in God's good name should a freaking soldier have to worry about killing someone while on active duty in the most hostile territory since....ever? I'm sorry that politicians want to make good men, and excellent soldiers out to be criminals just to appeal to the idiots who are against war in general, but I hope that they know that they cost absolutely fantastic people their lives, just like this. Seriously, it's all about politics. Who gives a crap what stupid Taliban media say? THEY'RE THE FREAKING TALIBAN FOR GOD'S SAKE! YOU SHOULDN'T EVER LISTEN TO WHAT THEY SAY...EVER! The Rules of Engagement are ridiculously messed- up, especially for such a bad situation such as Afghanistan. Why the heck would I wait for somebody to take a shot at me, even if I knew that they were "bad guys?" These men should NOT have to worry about being charged with crimes back in the US, especially for defending our freedom. "Oh, hey, thanks for defending my freedom, man! Here, I did you a favor. Since you defended the freedom of millions of people, I'm gonna take away your freedom now! Thanks!" Like....seriously. That's pretty much how it is. I don't know, maybe I'm crazy with my overly- patriotic mindset, but I'm just putting myself in those soldiers' shoes. You know...the ones that are dead now because of those darn rules. What do you think?

Holy physical activity, Batman!

I'm about a quarter of the way done with Lone Survivor by Marcus Luttrell, and currently the author is talking about is SEALs training before he actually became a SEAL, and it interests me greatly. I was reading about the ridiculous amount of physical training that these men have to endure, and I came across an interesting quote. Luttrell reminisces about a conversation he had with his drill instructor, Alberto Reno, and remembers Reno saying "Marcus, the body can take damn near anything. It's the mind that needs training." I found this quote very interesting because many people in our society today seem to think that being in the armed forces just means that  you have to be physically ripped and nothing else. It is just funny to me when I hear anything that makes anyone in the military look unintelligent or mentally weak because to be in the military, your mind has to be stronger than anything, especially with a special forces unit such as the SEALs. If your mind is not prepared for the horrors and injustices of war, then  you will not last in such a stressful place as the military.

While reading the last chapter, I also thought about the type of physical training that is involved in the military. The big misconception that many people seem to have is that being big and bulky with muscle is better, and Luttrell clearly debunks that reasoning in chapter three. Luttrell is always writing about how the students are doing push ups and running, not benching ridiculous amounts of weights, and though it may be a small detail to some, it stuck out to me because I'm preparing myself for this type of routine in a short period of time, and it helped me see what I should be focusing on.

Should have done this two weeks ago!

As many of you know, I am reading Lone Survivor by Marcus Luttrell, and although I am only  few chapters in at this point, I am thoroughly enjoying it. Not only is its content interesting to me, many of the values Luttrell writes of are values that I respect and try to demonstrate in my life every single day. For example, in the prologue, Luttrell recites the philosophy of the US Navy SEALs, which reads:

"I will never quit. I persevere and thrive on adversity. My nation expects me to be physically harder and mentally stronger than my enemies. If knocked down, I will get back up, every time. I will draw on every remaining ounce of strength to protect my teammates and to accomplish our mission. I am never out of the fight."

This  not only is the philosophy of the Navy SEALs, but I also consider this to be one of my central philosophies.   I truly believe that I am never out of any "fight," and that I can accomplish any goal, no matter how large, if I just persevere through all the adversity. Like the SEALs, this has been drilled into my head since the day I was born by my parents, and I feel that it is something that one must be raised with in order to be in such a daring group of men. I feel that those who are SEALs have been taught this at an early age, and those who fail SEAL training most likely were not lucky enough to learn this philosophy. In any case, I just really enjoyed this quote. I hope to remember it, even if I will learn many more of these during my time with the US Army.

Festiveness

I almost forgot to be festive!
Well, Tomorrow is my 18th birthday, and I am very excited for that. Also, this week, I have been wearing Christmas colors every day in order to lift the Christmas spirit in Feel Good Central. Yesterday I wore an awesome shirt that was Elf themed, and today I am wearing a green Reindeer Run t- shirt. Unfortunately, those are the only two Christmas shirts I have, so I am going to have to get creative for the rest of the week.
"The best way to spread Christmas cheer is singing loud for all to hear."- Buddy the Elf
"The best way to spread Christmas glee is wearing an Elf shirt for all to see." -Matt Skinner

Happy holidays!

Independent Reading Book Choice

As many of you know, I am planning on becoming an officer in the United States Army within the next few years of my life, so naturally, I am interested in all military- related things. That is why I am choosing to read Lone Survivor by Marcus Luttrell with Patrick Robinson. The book is a non- fiction book that is based on the experiences of Luttrell as a US Navy SEAL.

Lone Survivor is about Operation Redwing, carried out by the SEALS in the trechorous mountains of Afghanistan, and the impending firefight that led to the greatest loss of life in US Navy SEAL history. Of all the men who fought in this battle, only one remained alive after, and he had to stuggle to survive. That survivor is the author, Marcus Luttrell. Luttrell survived an RPG blast from the Taliban, and only survived by being hidden by rubble. After the coast cleared, Luttrell crawled for four days to a small Afghan village, from where he was later rescued. The whole story is just an amazing experience that interests me greatly, and I am very excited to read it.

The whole story, however, is not only about the author and how he survived, but rather it is a tale of the heroism and bravery that was demonstrated by the rest of his squad members, who were not lucky enough to return home from the battlefield on that day. I would be upset if that weren't what was also displayed in the book, as it would be incredibly selfish and tasteless to not account for the actions of those who are no longer with us because of their bravery in Afghanistan. I am very excited to read all about these men and women, and it makes me very proud to be an American knowing that we have such brave people defending our nation every single day.

HOLMES

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes (2010) is a wonderful film, full of all sorts of twists and turns that keep the viewer guessing throughout the entire film. The plot of the entire film is quite incredible, with the smallest details that one might pass over being the most important in the end, just like the real Sherlock Holmes novels. In my opinion, it is very rare that a movie pays so close attention to such minute details, and that is what makes this film such a great representation of the Sherlock Holmes novels. This film stays true to the novel, while still being a very entertaining flick, and not many movies stay true to both of those criteria. That is why I thoroughly enjoyed Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes.

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes also relates to our most recent novel, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon. The protagonists in each share many of the same characteristics. Sherlock Holmes, the brilliant detective, is a very logical man that pays very close attention to the smallest of details in order to solve his cases. This is much like Christopher Boone, from Haddon's novel, who is also very logical and can remember the smallest of details, but does not ever really deduce anything from his surroundings. That is the main difference between thew two; that they both "see" the small details, but only Holmes truly processes them and looks for a deeper meaning in these details. This is partially due to the fact that Christopher has Aspergers, a form of Autism that keeps him from fully understanding many things, such as human emotions. Another small connection that can be made between the two works is that they both are centered around one mystery at first, but quickly change focus just as soon as the first mystery is solved. I would highly suggest both works to just about any reader/ viewer, as they are just very entertaining.

On a festive note, it is almost the fourth week of Advent, and that means that Christmas is right around the corner! I love the holiday season! Festiveness!

"This Christmas feels like the very first Christmas to me"- Spongebob Squarepants