A Week On War

What does war really cost? The CB community examined this and other war-related topics during this year’s Social Justice week.

For one week every year the CB community focuses on one controversial topic to discuss in each class and have a guest speaker. This is Social Justice week.

The coordinator and director of Social Justice week is Ms. Jennifer Lystrup.

“Not all about the battle this week will show what comes along with war; displacement, environment, starvation and refugees,” explains Ms. Lystrup, “I am addressing the rights of a child and how war affects children and what the children born in war are like.”

When war is brought up, images of firefights, soldiers in battle, or war rooms come to mind. But this week, CB has made the choice to look at the other sections of war; the men who return scarred and what war does to the world around us.

As part of Social Justice Week, CB hosted Sergeant First Class Norbie Lara, a member of the Wounded Warrior Project and an Iraq War veteran. Lara discussed his experiences and how CB community members can help veterans returning from war.

Even with war well in the past, the memories of what they have seen haunt veterans and the stories they carry with them impact their loved ones.

“My grandfather fought in the war, and when I was younger he wouldn’t talk about his time in the war much. But one time he talked about all the dead bodies. Not only the ones he saw, but he talked about having to walk over them,” recites Mr. Dave Levasseur. “This was one of the few times I saw him get emotional. It was some thing that just stuck with me.”

War does not only affect man — each battle brings waves of destruction that ravage the land that hosts each encounter.

“First off, if you look at war there is pollutants and debris that affect that natural flow of nature, and when you level a city you atomize pollutants, and when you use weapons of mass destruction it is all about destruction, and when we destroy we make it difficult to put back together,” says Mr. Danny Delgado (’79). “The best destruction is when we pulverize everything, and when we do this, we affect living organisms. And they will adapt, but with ill effects. So when thinking of weapons of mass destruction, they go beyond our initial idea.”

“It doesn’t just hurt the men getting shot and losing limbs, it affects the generations after the bombs are dropped,” the science instructor adds.

Everyone knows the cost of war is great in both money and lives, but some think war m

While many lives are lost in war, it seen necessary from time to time in order to save lives. When America decided to enter World War II we ended the dangerous expansion of the Germany saving British, French, and Countless other European lives.

There have been time when war seemed necessary and others where nations seemingly be productive.

“War my be an evil thing in this world, but it is necessary for the growth and development of man kind.” Michael Grundman (’15) states.

In both cases, countless lives of soldiers were lost and it would be a terrible thing to not learn of their sacrifices and that is what this social justice week is all about.