Strange creatures we are, even to ourselves.

Martin 2021-12-26 08:01:08

My name is Damian and I am a medical student who has just graduated and I plan to go to London to continue my studies.

My hometown, Ireland, is a hot land, full of greenery and picturesque scenery. The people are industrious and simple, but they are ravaged by the invaders. The British army is rampant here, wantonly trampling on our dignity, insulting us as Irish pigs, and killing our compatriots. Someone in the town was just dredging in the street and was shot in the back. My neighbor’s child Miguel, only seventeen years old, was dragged to the chicken coop and executed because he refused to say his name in English. The tyranny of the British forces forced the fearlessness of the Irish. Too much bloodshed caused resistance, and where there was resistance, there was even more cruel suppression. My brother Teddy is the leader here. I hesitated and refused, but in the end I agreed: Ireland needs doctors, but it needs fighters to join the resistance movement. So I joined the Irish Republican Army.

We acted in secret, completed many tasks, and the army of the Republic began to grow stronger. The British army was furious and helpless at us. But the squire in the town reported us, and the traitor appeared. We were arrested and tortured. Some people were lucky enough to be saved, but three of our partners were executed.

I shot the informant squire and the kid who became a traitor, that kid, I watched him grow up all the way. I told Dan that I had studied anatomy for five years, but now I want to kill people. I hope Ireland is worth it.

At last there was news of a truce. The signing of the Anglo-Irish Treaty allowed the 26 counties in southern Ireland to become a free state in the British Empire according to the treaty, but allegiance to the British King was still required; the six northern counties remained under British rule. The British retreated, leaving the Irish with conditional freedom and huge internal divisions. Peace is hard-won, is it to compromise or to insist on complete independence? Teddy chose to compromise and became a soldier in the Free State. And I cannot accept false freedom and peace and independence in disguise. The robes who had faced the enemy side by side drew their swords to each other, and the brothers smashed the wall to open the curtain.

I wanted to stay out of this war, but I was still involved; now I want to get away but can't. In an unsuccessful operation, Dan died. I was unwilling to give the address where the Republican Army’s weapons were hidden. My brother Teddy was about to execute me in the early morning. I left a suicide note to my loved one, which reads like this: You once said that one day our children would be able to taste freedom. I also pray for this day, but I am afraid it is farther than we thought. .

Dan once said: "It's easy to know what you want to resist, but it's another thing to know why you want to persist." There was a time when my heart was empty. I think I know now, and it gave me courage.

I was still afraid of death, but until I died, I did not give up persisting. I hope that in this green land, children will not have to endure starvation; the elderly will not be forced into desperation by loan sharks, nor will they have to worry about the destruction of their homes and the murder of their children; workers will no longer work overtime and be exploited by British capitalists. ; There will be no more black holes aimed at my compatriots, no matter if the person holding the gun is the aggressor or his own. Perhaps one day, these hopes can become a natural reality in people's eyes. But at this moment, this is my ideal and belief. I am about to die, but I have no heart to die. For this distant hope, I am willing to pay the price of my life.

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Extended Reading
  • Dannie 2022-03-21 09:02:21

    "I tried to avoid getting involved in the war, but I got involved; now I want to get out, but I can't." From the Irish War of Independence to the Civil War, the two brothers went from joining forces to falling apart. When they went out together, they didn't do anything. They were either arrested while sleeping in the jungle, or watched their friends get humiliated and their stronghold burned down by the British... Finally, a phased peace came. But the nightmare-like question became clear: after all, what are we fighting for? Can we compromise for incomplete success? In the end, the elder brother chose to compromise based on the logic of politicians; the younger brother chose to continue to fight based on pure nationalism. They turned their guns on each other. The wind is blowing the wheat waves, and the town is still quiet, but no one has watched the struggle and cannibalism that took place here from beginning to end. They are just insignificant existences in a political game, two inconspicuous straws in the wheat wave.

  • Angie 2021-12-26 08:01:08

    7.5/8 It is easy for you to know what you resist but it is difficult to know what you pursue; the crowd gathers together because of the revolution and is torn apart by the victory of the revolution; the tragedy cycle of idealists and realists is not final in this struggle Victor; the revolution will never bring the goodness that was first promoted, but will only spawn more bloody hatred and disaster; this kind of movie is the type I want to make

The Wind that Shakes the Barley quotes

  • Damien: The Treaty does not express the will of the people, but the fear of the people.

  • Damien: And once again, with honourable exception, the Catholic Church sides with the rich.