We Are All Enlisted

To quote Colonel Scott Krawczyk, your course director:

‘From the very earliest days of this country, the model for our officers, which was built on the model of the citizenry and reflective of democratic ideals, was to be different. They were to be possessed of a democratic spirit marked by independent judgment, the freedom to measure action and to express disagreement, and the crucial responsibility never to tolerate tyranny.’

-William Deresiewicz, “Solitude and Leadership”

In his talk Deresiewicz talked about what makes a good leader. He states that the technology of today is stunting the intellectual processes of young people, that we are in need of more leaders who believe in something and stand by what they believe.

This week in my ROTC class we studied the Rules of Engagement and Law of Land Warfare. It a nutshell, these two things tell you what you can and can’t do as a combatant in military operations. What made me proud was how in line they are with what we as LDS believe to morally and ethically right. In our text book was this quote by General John Wickham Jr:

“In times of danger, it is the ethical element of leadership

which will bond our units together and enable them to

withstand the stresses of combat.”

 (From DA PAM 600-65, Leadership Statements and Quotes) *emphasis added

In class we discussed Deresiewicz’s talk and had a very stimulating discussion about leadership that I enjoyed. However I left a bit troubled.

                                                                                                                 

As we discussed leaders and what leadership means, there seemed to me a subtle, unintentional, perhaps subconscious view that military leaders are not the leaders to look to when it comes to morality and ethics. This bugged me. I’m not angry or trying to call anyone out, I am just disappointed. Disappointed someone could think of military leaders and not equate then with moral or ethical uprightness.

Think of Captain Moroni, Helaman, and Teancum. Of the current First Presidency and Twelve Apostles ten have served in the military

The mere inference that military leaders are not as moral as other leaders could not be further than the truth.

What about George Washington? Dick Winters? Hal Moore?

Deresiewicz’s talk, which urged the discovery adherence to one’s core values was directed at cadets at the United States Military Academy. Future officers in the United States Army.

Every military leader may not have an outstanding moral compass, but neither do all CEO’s or sports stars. We should look to follow the example of ALL moral and ethical leaders, regardless of who they lead, but remembering that we are all soldiers. Soldiers in God’s Army, fighting a battle that can only be won by staying true to our morals.

         Pres. Uchtdorf                                                                                Pres. Monson                                                                                               Pres. Packer

                                             

A Recipe for Acceptance

“Thanks to [Felipe] I became the only huinca able to understand the Mapuche, but it would take nearly a year. I just wrote, ‘understand the Mapuche,’ but that is a fantasy. We will never understand one another; there is too much accumulated resentment between us.”

                Inés of my Soul by Isabel Allende, page 181

           

                   

The Spanish vs. the Mapuche. What a perfect storm it was when the two met. Both proud, hard headed, and spirited. But it was the Spaniards’ arrogance that about did them in. They treated the Indians horrendously and were duplicitous. They made no honest effort to reach an agreement with the Mapuche and figuratively but also quite literally burned bridges between them, making it impossible for them ever understand each other.                         

I am in the army reserves and contracted in BYU’s army ROTC program and every so often guest speakers come and talk to us about their experiences in the military, the world, and life in general. Last semester retired Major General Loeffke (pronounced ‘love-key’) visited. This man has an amazing resume. Among his many admirable achievements is the fact that he speaks five languages- English, Spanish, Portuguese, Russian, and Cantonese. He imparted upon us some wisdom he has learned from the years he spent interacting with other cultures.

Maj. General Loeffke leads us in a repetition of "I'm proud to be an American"

How to be Acceptable in Any Society- according to Major General Loeffke: 

1-Be a healer. Learn basic healing techniques.

2- Sing. You don’t have to sing well. Sing songs from your culture, then learn songs from theirs.

3-Entertain. Magic tricks, origami, jokes, etc

Inés doesn’t say that the Spanish and the Mapuche  will never understand each other because it is fundamentally impossible. They never will because of all the ‘accumulated resentment.’  Resentment spawning from the Spanish having no DESIRE to understand the Mapuche. I believe Gerneal Loeffke would be disguted with most Spaniard but approving of Inés. She befriended  Catalina and they learned healing arts from eachother. She made an effort to learn the Mapuche language, which General Loeffke would say is vital to understanding the culture.

It seems that to understand another culture one must have a desire to do so. It does not mean that you have to abandon your own culture, you just need to stretch your mind and heart to fit around theirs. 

¿Donde estan?-- Where are they?

“Don Benito told us stories of Diego de Almagro’s disastrous journey. He said that the adelantado had allowed his men to commit atrocities [while crossing the desert] that were not worthy of a Christian. They took thousands and thousands of Indians from Cuzco with chains and ropes around their necks to keep them from escaping. When one of them died, they simply cut off his head to save themselves the work of undoing the string of captives or holding up the endless line dragging across the sierra.”

Inés of My Soul by Isabel Allende, page 110.

[http://www.thenakedscientists.com/]

This desert located in northern Chile is the driest place on earth, and has probably held this title for thousands of years. While the average rainfall is 4 millimeters per year there are some places that have no recorded rainfall.  It spans 600 miles and covers over 40,000 square miles. The scarce vegetation found clinging to life in the Atacama is kept alive by the moisture of the garúa fog that creeps inland from the sea in some areas. Barely inhabitable by even lichens, algae, and cacti, the Atacama is no place for humans or animals.  This desert with its relentless heat, bone-chilling nights, its dearth of water and the life which it brings has murdered many who have dared venture into its territory.

As I was mulling over what stood out to me from the first 150 pages of Inés of my Soul, my attention was fixed on the Atacama desert and the abuses of the Indians by the Spaniards and I was reminded of the movie Nostalgia for the Light. It is a powerful and thought provoking documentary released in 2010 which artfully draws connections between the astronomers who peer through their telescopes located in the Atacama desert (which happens to be an ideal place for stargazing due to its rainless nature) searching for clues about the history of earth and the universe, and the women who search under the baking sun for the remains of their “disappeared” loved ones.

Chileans holding pictures of loved ones who disappeared during  Pinochet's Regime.
"Donde estan?" - "Where are they?" They say.
[http://blogs.heraldo.es/gervasiosanchez/?p=276]

While the hellish conditions of the desert alone is enough to kill most forms of life, most of the bones that litter the salted and mineral rich landscape are there due to humans and their devilish tendencies. In this desert setting many Indians were killed by Spaniards during the Conquest and Colonization, both by their hand and by their inhumane treatment. The Spaniards refused to believe that the Indians were human and deserving of respect. They were treated like animals—at times, less than animals— and disposed of like the contents of their chamber pots. The bodies of Indians littered the path ambitious Spaniards dared take through the Atacama.

Crimes against human life in the Atacama Desert were to be repeated centuries later during the regime of Augusto Pinochet. Abandoned mining towns in the desert were turned into prisons for those arrested for “political crimes,” and holes were dug into the parched earth where the bodies of executed “enemies of state” were dumped. Their bodies joining the bones of others who were oppressed and murdered hundreds of years earlier by those who also thought themselves superior and above reproach.

                    

¡SOY YO!

Me llamo....erika rubilar. And I am me.

Whenever my dad would ask us what we were up to when we were being lazy or zoning out he would say that we were "Contemplando la imortalidad del cangrejo."  And thus the name of this blog was born. Because these posts will likely be musings of mi cerebro. Deep ones.

Esta foto de mi as a baby descibes me pretty well.

I like to climb things like trees and mountains and edificios. And I like to do it a pie pelado.

Estudio 'Latin American Studies'

Mi padre es de Chile asi que un pedazo de my heart belongs to the country and its people.

I love Latin America. I love la cultura. Me encanta Spanish. Especialmente Chilean Spanish. 

And I love when I'm so immersed in it that yo empiezo a pensar en castellano.

Yo soy de Nueva York y Atlanta. 

I like to use mi cuerpo. I like to make it stronger and faster.

I don't like being encerada en un building. I love being outside. A menos que hace frio.

I love mi perro casi more than i love humanos.

Yo soy aventurera. I love to eat comida and travel. An excellent threesome. 

That being said, yo soy un 'food snob'. Y un 'movie snob'. No puedo aguantar comer mala comida o desperdiciar mi tiempo mirarando peliculas estupidas. 

I am in the Army. A veces es muy awesome (yeehaw! blackhawk rides!!) Sometimes no es tan divertido. It's a love-hate relationship.

the tattoos are fake (mine anyways) the remnants of my halloween costume

Me cuesta mucho mirar las noticias and be informed about the happenings of the world because a lot of it makes me enojada. I wish there were soluciones faciles para cosas como gun control, abortion, and illegal immigrants. Pero no hay.

Ojalá que nunca olvido how to have fun. And that I can always be learning.