The Conscientious Objector

On Sunday I attended the GI Film Festival at the invitation of a friend who is a strong supporter of our troops. The festival showcased independent films about the lives of the men and women who fight for our freedom. Many of these films provide behind the scene stories and perspectives that you cannot get from the media or Hollywood films. Some films may be inspiring and honor the members of the armed forces; others highlight the trials and tribulations that these people face abroad and at home. However, the film I found to be most intriguing (of the handful I saw) was a controversial one.

Soldiers of Conscience is a documentary about soliders who face the challenge of deconflicting their orders to kill from their moral beliefs against it. Many soldiers do not want to kill, but this story was about four specific conscientious objectors - men who actually refused military orders to kill. I don't want to go into the details of their stories here (that's what the film is for), but I thought some interesting points were brought up by these men. Those who support war say, what if no one tried to stop Hitler in WWII? These conscientious objectors say, well, what if the Nazis refused to kill in the first place? As ideological as this may sound, they also point out that it is possible for humanity to eventually realize that what they are doing is wrong. Slavery is an example. People eventually realized it was wrong and it was abolished. All it takes is a few brave souls to stand up for what they believe in to get the momentum going.

Imagine a world without war, without violence. Every dispute is settled diplomatically. It can start with us. Sure, we still need to be able to defend ourselves if necessary. But what if we never waged war even when provoked and instead found some other way to seek justice? What if we spend the money that would go towards fighting a war in other ways that will improve our country? We can use more public transportations in this country. We can revive the Social Security system. We can better educate our children who will become tomorrow's leaders. We can invest in clean energy technologies. Possibilities are endless.

Those who want to fight will find any excuse to fight. Those who want peace can find a way to not fight.

Marine Corps Evening Parade

Every Friday evening during the summer, an Evening Parade is held at the Marine Barracks Washington to celebrate its pride, professionalism, and Esprit de Corps. Having come from a military background myself (& being a fan of the movie A Few Good Men), I have been looking forward to attending this parade for a while now. It has taken me 2 years just to get tickets because they go really fast once they become available on-line - usually in late February. (Note: at the time of this writing, there are tickets left for 3 dates in late July and August.) Anyhow, I finally went this past Friday and had a great evening.

The night started off with a not-so-bad drive into DC during rush hour. Parking at Maritime Plaza was free, and walking distance to the barracks. The 8th street in front of the barracks was lined with many restaurants and bars. The Marines were also everywhere. I had never seen so many people in uniform since my days as a Cadet. I'm not sure if there are this many hanging out every week, but it must be a heaven for single girls around here. My husband wasn't so pleased with the scene though. He started joking that I just wanted to see men in uniform. I had to reassure him that I only had eyes for him :)

Visitors to the parade had to be in the gates by 8pm. Any unclaimed seats were then made available to the general public. There was quite a bit of waiting until a marine finally came around to give us a brief, but interesting history of the barracks. At 8:45 the parade began with The President's Own marching into the grounds, followed by The Commandant's Own, and the ceremonial marchers. Among other things, the two bands provided musical entertainment and the Silent Drill Platoon performed precision drill exhibition. The night ended with evening colors and Taps at 10:15.

Tokyo, Japan

I was way overdue to visit my mom in Japan this time, but I finally made it out there. I've been putting it off because of the high yen (& the whole marriage thing last year), but I couldn't put it off any longer. If I didn't go now, I didn't know when I'd get another chance. Unfortunately, my hubby couldn't come along since he couldn't get such time off from work yet. Maybe just as well though since he might have been bored while I chit-chatted away in Japanese with family and friends. Although I suppose my friends could switch to English just as well. In any case, I hope to take him on a proper sight-seeing trip there in the near future.

I had many people I wanted to see on this trip - my mom, uncles, cousins, friends from high-school, friends from college, friends from when I lived in Japan, etc. Some I saw on my last trip to Japan, others I have not seen in 6 to 10 years. I found it a bit exhausting to try to catch everyone on the short time I had there, and I wondered to myself why I do this. If I'd only kept my mouth shut about my visit.... In the end though, I had a great time catching up with everyone and was really glad I made the effort. Having been cocooned up recently, I'd forgotten how much I enjoy my friends' company. It was also interesting to see how some people's lives have changed since I last saw them. Regretfully, there were a few people that I did miss due to schedule conflicts :(

Aside from seeing friends and family, I enjoyed being back in Japan simply because it is Japan. I love its food, efficient public transportation, great service, the unique culture, and more. I ate so much good food, that I can only hope that all the walking around I did getting from place to place had counter-balanced it. Speaking of walking around, I had forgotten how much walking around you do in Japan. The friend I stayed with lived a 20 minutes walk from the train station so everyday I was doing at least 40 minutes of walking. There were always lots of walking everywhere else I went too. Every night I'd come back to my friend's house beyond exhausted. By end of my stay I'd come down with a really bad cold. Now I wonder if I got a cold from walking around in the cold a lot (it was unseasonably cold when I went), or if I was so exhausted because I was coming down with a cold. In any case, so much for keeping up the healthy momentum after getting back. The cold had put me out for a week now and probably will keep me down another week. Tokyo was a good reminder of how unfit I was though, so once I'm better, I need to get back on track with my workouts.

Although the primary purpose of the trip was to see my mom, I did make it out for a bit of sightseeing. The first weekend was spent in Hakone with my family, and then I also took a day trip out to Enoshima and Kamakura while the weather was nice.

Hakone

Before I had arrived to Japan, my mom and my uncles were planning a little getway to Hakone, a resort town couple hours away from Tokyo. Although I felt like I was crashing their little party, it was a good opportunity to spend some quality time with my mom so I tagged along. Probably the best part of the experience was staying in a proper Japanese ryokan, where I got to spend some time in the onsen, and eat a traditional Japanese meal. I even got a short hike up to a temple early the next morning before breakfast, thanks to my jetlag. The second day we spent the day following the traditional tourist route of Hakone, jumping from one mode of transport to another (e.g. bus, boat, cable cars, train), with lots of walking in between. The sky was overcast a bit, so no view of Mt. Fuji, which was disappointing. Probably the highlight of the day was the Hakone shrine and a stop at Owakudani to eat an egg boiled in the natural hotsprings of the mountain. It is said to add seven years to your life.

Enoshima

Enoshima is a little island that you can hit on a day trip from Tokyo. It's not much of beach type place. What you get is main street riddled with Japanese shops, a shrine up top, an observation tower, some nice gardens, and a view from top of the island. There is also a set of escalators that take you up the island for a charge if you prefer to take that route. On the other side of the island is a cave, but I gave it a miss since I also wanted to hit Kamakura and get home before late.

Kamakura

Nearby Enoshima is Kamakura, another place where you can see more traditional Japanese places. There are many temples in Kamakura, but I only hit one, Hasedera, since it was close to the big buddha statue I wanted to see. I didn't realize at the time that it was one of THE temples to see in Kamakura, so I was pleasantly surprised at how beautiful the gardens and temple were. I ended up staying a bit longer than expected here. The picture up top are the gardens of Hasedera. Below is the Great Buddha.