WRITING EXTENSION

Dearest Mother,

I worry about you every day. My biggest fear is that of not being there for you when you need me. But always remember this. Although I cannot be home, my heart is with you always. Please promise me one thing, Mother. Promise that you will not worry about me. It is not good for your health. I need you to be there when I return home. Do whatever you can to get better. I miss you terribly, but knowing I will be in your arms once more placates me. I promise that war is not as bad as you may hear from others. Your son would not lie to you. Please tell my sister what I have told you. Let her know that I love her. And tell Father that he has good reason to be proud of his son. Take care of yourself.

Love,

Paul

You’re going crazy,

Running on empty,

You can’t make up your mind,

You try to hide it,

But you had to say it,

Restless all this time,

So completely drained from every thing that’s in your life,

It’s so wrong but you had to scream every thought you kept inside,

One minute you laugh,

The next minute you’re slowly sinking into something black,

I get the feeling that lately nothing ever really lasts,

I keep trying to get up but I keep falling back,

And you love,

And you hate,

And you wait

The song above is called "One Minute" by Kelly Clarkson. I believe it captures many of Paul's feelings on the inside that can't really be seen from the exterior. It talks about a confused, overwhelmed feeling. In Paul's case, the trigger for this feeling is war. He's drained emotionally from the traumatizing events on the battlefield. Paul seems to make many attempts at rising above what is happening to him, but he keeps falling back.

Often the most painful and significant loss during war is soldiers. This painting depicts two soldiers who have died and were left to rot. There are so many casualties that there is no way to find and bury them all. This piece of art also shows its viewer something about death. Death is inevitable in war. Even after the war is over and the conflicts resolved, the soldiers lost will never live again.