Why I Wouldn T Run Persuasive Essay

in The Things They Carried Tim O’Brien is faced with a difficult choice. He has been drafted into the Vietnam War, and he can either stay and fight or run to Canada. The Vietnam War was a controversial one, with lots of people dying for an unnamed cause. It’s easy to see why he wouldn’t want to be involved with that. He almost runs, staying for several days at the border of Canada. In the end he stays, but it’s a close call. I can understand his motives and actions, but I don’t believe in them. I wouldn’t have run in the first place, though I would have felt the same as him. There are several reasons why I wouldn’t have run, but the most important would be a strong sense of patriotism. Like O’Brien I figure I would fight for a war if it were called for, but unlike O’Brien I would probably fight even if it weren’t the “right one.” I wouldn’t sign up on my own however, but if I were drafted I would answer the call. It’s true that America doesn’t always know what’s best, but in situations like this the best that I could do as an individual is grin and bear it, doing what I can to help. I wouldn’t want to be a traitor to my own country. I don’t know if the guilt of abandoning my country would be any better than anything the war might do to me.

If I were to leave and jump the border, it only means that some other poor person is drafted instead. The military would get its soldiers, one way or another. O’Brien mentions that he never thought the war would reach him before he was drafted, but I’m well aware that the draft can get anyone. It’s true that I’m well off, like he was, and from a wealthy and educated family, but that doesn’t mean anything to the draft board. I suppose that it comes down to self worth. It’s sad, but I’ve got a pretty transitional view of life, I suppose, and I don’t feel I’m too good for fighting, like O’Brien mentioned he