The Soccer War (The Soccer War pg. 151-172)

Kapuscinski arrives in Latin America to witness and describe a war between El Salvador and Honduras. He first begins to write about, Mexico, Bolivia, Chile and some other Latin American countries. When I got to the chapter called The Soccer War, I got really excited to see what it was about, because the book has the same title. However, I began reading and I noticed it was about a war that began in a soccer game; I was not so excited anymore.

Latin American countries have always been seen as violent, third world countries. I found it very interesting that Kapuscinski wrote, "But there was no way to stop that metal monster, it was like something possesed, banging against the cobblestones, smashing into lamp-posts, thundering and booming." I can compare this quoation to the trashcan being a group of revolutionary people and the cobblestones and lamp-posts being the rest of the country. Why do I relate this quote with groups of people? I believe the noise I could hear in my head while reading this quotation is the exact noise I hear everytime the news talks about terrorist atacks. Everytime "Las FARC" (guerilla group in Colombia) does another criminal assault. It is amazing the disturbance I felt when I read this quotation, I could feel the tension he felt while the trashcan bangged on the floor everytime!

I could not believe there are children that get shot, and continue fighting! While being a delegate at the Model United Nations in Bogota, I realized how many children get demoralized and mistreated by grownups who want them to fight, not only in Colombia, but everywhere around the world. Kapuscinski says, "A wounded boy arrived in a truck. A Salvadoran. he had taken a bullet in a knee. He was ordered to lie down on the grass.The boy was barefoot, pale, spattered with blood...He used his fingers to pull out the bullet. Then he poured iodine into the wound and wrapped it in a bandage." It is incredible to see, how a boy gets shot and takes the bullet out by himself! Although this happened a while ago, children are still being used for different war purposes. For example, they are used to walk over mine fields so they get hurt and not the older ones. They are used to fight and to carry weapons when the older ones get tired! I just do not believe this is fair. Children are supposed to be studying and getting educated. Furthermore, children are children and they deserve a chance to play, learn, and grow up to be good people. In what world will we end up living if the future leaders of the world learn to fight, shoot, and hurt others? Is this what we want our future to be?