Individual VLP Blog #2
This week
for our VLP final we met in our groups to discuss the videos, how to proceed,
what we wanted to express in our storyboards, and so on. We also talked about
how to deal with the fact that the veteran we will talking about very recently
passed away. We thought perhaps of reaching out to his church and family to see
how they would like to see the video that would have him in it, or if they
wanted to talk about his time in the service. We reached out to another
professor in the department who has overseen the VLP to see what she
recommends. However, either way, I am very concerned, as I know the rest of the
members of the group are, that this might be very sensitive for his family
because of his recent passing about three months ago. I was hoping we could do
our video on the correspondence between those serving and their loved ones and
their photos. It can be a very sensitive topic, both generally speaking but
also in specific instances as well. I do think it could make a very interesting
VLP video in the future potentially if others were interested in showing that
side of war. We also discussed the topic for our video and potential ways to
storyboard the video. I would like to cover at the end of the video for our
final project how we can help veterans who are returning home from war, how we
can lift people up rather than put them down. The topic we settled on was
Medals, Stigma, and Returning to Civilian Life.
Upon watching the interview, many of
us in the group including myself notice several key things. Mr. Smith had so
many interesting things to say about his time serving in Vietnam. A few times
during the interview he became emotional, understandably so, and at these
times, he said many important things, including the occasion when he was badly
wounded and nearly died. From this video you see how important his family was
to him, and he was to his family. He also mentioned what life was like upon
returning home, both as it applied to him and briefly what it was like for
other veterans. Upon returning home, receiving an associate’s degree and
starting work again, many of his coworkers as a practical joke would drop books
behind him when he was not looking as a practical joke of sorts. However, this
would make him duck under his desk as a result. There was also a lot of stigma
behind the Vietnam War, as many people did not support it at all.
During our group meeting discussing
our topic and the medals that Mr. Smith received during the war, we talked
about how in many respects he can be seen as a hero for all the sacrifices he
made, that anyone serving in war makes. The stigma that went with that war
might have changed people’s perceptions and in many ways did change perceptions
of what a hero is. It seems to me that war does not make the individual but the
individual makes the war. To me, Mr. Smith was hero who, in my mind, was in a
war that hurt everyone including those involved.
Link to
the interview:
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