3/25 Class Discussion- Trench Warfare

Usually in history classes we brush over the main events and battles, but today, while talking about trench warfare, reality set in for me. When I think of war i think of who fought who and who won. Even though we discuss casualties, I do not think about the actuality of the violence that goes on. Since we've been studying history since we were kids, it has always come off to me as some sort of sports match. However, today while we talked about and looked at images of trench warfare, it actually hit me how extreme and ugly these battles and wars are. I began to think about how it would feel to live in the trenches for a week, let alone a few years. People literally lived in dirt and mud while bullets and bombs would be going off outside their "window." If you weren't killed by a bullet or gas, you could be killed by infection or illness. All the while your family is back home and all you have is your dirt covered bed and maybe some water. It was at this point I realized that we talk about war all the time but we hardly realize the extremity of every persons situation. We constantly talk about people's war tactics but we never think to put ourselves in a soldiers shoes and imagine what it would be like to spend 4 years of your life in war.
I was also talking with a friend about comparing the "shot heard around the world" with the "shot that reverberated Europe" and one thing we talked about was the length of the wars they caused. We discovered that WWI lasted about 4 years and the American Revolution Lasted 8 years and my first response was "wow the American Revolution lasted 8 years!" At that my friend said, "Yeah WWI ONLY lasted 4 years." At that moment I had another reality check. In comparison to the American Revolution, WWI was only 4 years but in reality, 4 years is a long time. In 4 years I've managed to start high school, take numerous tests, play numerous soccer games, visit colleges, get accepted to college, get a job, quit a job, and map out the rest of my life. During the time it took me to do that, a war could have been going on and in that war, millions of people could have died, and students would not have had the opportunity to accomplish what I have accomplished. Even though it seems like "only 4 years," imagine putting your life on pause for 4 years. Imagine looking out your window for 4 years and all people are talking and working for is war. 4 years of life could turn into 4 years of total war. It is these realizations that make me thankful for the life I have where I can just sit in my AP European History class and learn a thing or two while earning my 1.0 credit toward advancing my studies to a higher education that I am able to achieve while I am not lying in a trench.