Band of Brothers

Band of Brothers is an HBO mini series that I am hooked on. There are only 10 episodes. So far I have made it through three of them and I am blown away! The series in whole seems fairly accurate, and it should be considering that it is based on true events that took place during WWII. The action and drama is good and all, but where it has truly captured me was the attitude of a nation for that generation. Being 25 years old, I find it very difficult to find the mentality of the men that served in WWII in my generation.

In these days I can meet a person who is fighting against conformity, complaining about conformist ideas, and wants recognition for his/her individualism. Honestly, when i meet these people at first I am captivated by their out of the box thinking, and their skewed points of view. Then six months down the road, I realize that they are not wanting to change the world for the better. They for surely do not want to change the world for the worse either. If i delve a little deeper, i usually find out that they are "members" of a group that just wants change period. They are wondering around life aimlessly, and when they see situations, they cant see past it. They are so short sided, that they blow things way out of proportion. Then the" members" of the group gets together and start a petition, and start asking for signatures from people they don't know. (That is captivating, for a person from a small town who has lived by these rules his whole life.) It is an action that may or may not make a difference.

How does that tie in with the show??? After the first episode, I was moved. I was taken back by the fact that Easy Company (the name of the unit) were all men that lived to serve  their nation. Don't get me wrong, the "members" of the individualistic group run based on the same idea that a group is more powerful than one person. However the difference usually comes when the heart of the issue is brought up. The famous words of Kennedy ring true, "Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country." The heart of what you live for, and fight for is what moved me. These men lived for and fought for the people they loved, and the nation that they believed in. My peers fight for a group that they want to brag about, plain and simple.

I love the idea of a family simply because it is something that is so much bigger than yourself. It is a system of support that is held together with the fabric of respect, honor and love. I hope and pray that my generation will be able to recognise that and focus on how to build their system as a family. True identity is found in what you care, live, and fight for.