This is symbolic of my train of thought. Plus, it's pretty.
As I sit here and write, the sound of zombie fighting rages on the Xbox (Left 4 Dead 2), my roommate and one of my friends sit playing violin and banjo (both terribly), and flowers threaten to overwhelm my screen (my boyfriend is pretty cool). I'm sitting at a table covered with a candy-striped Christmas tablecloth, and the Sharpie on my wrist, arms, chest, and leg is slowly fading. I don't know why any of this is relevant, other than that they are all facts of my life at the moment just as true as my years-long dream of joining the United States Air Force.
This is quite possibly the most American picture I've ever found online. If only there was an eagle.
I don't know why I don't. Maybe it's because I don't think I could make it, because I believe I'm tough and it would kill me to find out otherwise. It could be fear, and the feeling of need to imitate the strong women in these stories. Maybe it's because I view soldiers and war through rose colored glasses, and I don't want my heroic, romantic view to be tarnished (though I know war is horrible and people are horrible and it's all just horrible business). Maybe I don't join for reasons that I don't even understand (though I really try to do self evaluations a lot).
Obligatory "And how does that make you feel?" joke.
Regardless of my personal reasons, I wanted to use this last post to evaluate the state of women in combat around the world today. From days past when women were little more than stagehands in the field of war, integration of the sexes is strongly underway now. Many major countries have estimates of women having the exact same options as men open to them within the next decade. One of the main debates is over physical strength differences between the sexes. I personally agree that women should be held to the same standards as men for combat purposes, possibly partially because in the books that I've discussed before, the women have all been able to keep up or even surpass the skills of the men around them. To use a Halo example (in discussion of what may happen in Halo Xbox One (or Halo 5, as some of us call it)), Cortana and Master Chief work perfectly well together because they are evenly matched as they are--she's the brains, he's the brawn. There's a possibility that Cortana could become human in some future Halo (trust me, it makes sense). However, if she becomes human, she is not nearly at the same physical level that the Chief is, and she would slow him down. I believe teams of men and women working together need to be equal in their abilities, and so I understand that. I just want the option, that if I can be as strong as a man, I can fight like one.
I couldn't find a picture without text and was tired of wading through fanfiction-serving Google Image search.
In many countries, this is quickly becoming a reality. I was thrilled to see headlines back in January about the US's plans to allow women to serve in the same positions as men. Leon Panetta, Secretary of Defense, gave said this great quote about it: "Our purpose is to ensure that the mission is carried out by the best qualified and the most capable servicemembers, regardless of gender and regardless of creed and beliefs. If members of our military can meet the qualifications for a job ... then they should have the right to serve, regardless of creed or color or gender or sexual orientation." (quote taken from a Jurist article by Votava). We're still not quite to perfect equality, though. It'll be some time before women work beside men in any and every position, and maybe that's part of the reason that the literature that I've discussed is so appealing.
I have this book. It's a great book. You should read it.
Or maybe it's just that these women have adventures. Adventures are hard to come by in these days, or at least the classic adventures that we love to read about. As Cutler Beckett said in Pirates of the Caribbean 2 (I think), "the blank edges of the map are being filled in" and the world is shrinking. At least, for whatever comes next, we'll be able to fight alongside each other, no matter what gender we are.
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