One day though, we sat down in front of HBO. It was one of those days when nothing needs to be done because you decided not to do anything. On the T.V. was "Fog of War." It's an award winning documentary by Errol Morris that in essence is just a two hour interview. I'm going to estimate and say I was ten, but my young mind and inability to sit still did not stop me from watching every second of this amazing documentary, and luckily for me I remembered the title and watched it again today, and yesterday.
Ok, so I don't understand how 10 year old Kat appreciated it so much. It's an amazing series of revealing lessons, eleven in all, that are woven into the story of Robert McNamara's life. 10 year old Kat wasn't the avid history buff that 16 year old Kat is, so why did she enjoy it so much?
I HAVE NO CLUE BUT IT'S AMAZING.
The lessons that McNamara portrays are so broad and universal, but he exceptionally expresses how he learned each one in his time during World War 2 as a bombing statistician, as president of Ford, or as Secretary of War under Kennedy and Johnson.
All the lessons hit home, but my favorite is the eleventh, "You can't change human nature."
McNamara explains this "We all make mistakes. We know we make mistakes... war is so complex it's beyond the ability of the human mind to comprehend all the variables. Our judgement, our understading, are not adequate. And we kill people unnecessarily."
It is human nature to make mistakes, even the most horrid of ones. McNamara played a huge role in the Vietnam War, and because of measures he approved, such as Agent Orange, people died.
But, on a lighter note, his full name is Robert Strange McNamara and I thought that was awesome
and also his wife is a cutie
here's a clip from a scene about B20 bombers and McNamara's colleage Lemay, who epitomized Lesson #9, "in order to do good, you may have to engage in evil." It also goes on to explain the bombing of Tokyo, which is kind of heartbreaking.
I could go on forever about this movie, but I really would love everyone in the world to see it and love it to. This is a tough aspiration though because I doubt everyone else shares my intense love of history coupled with a documentary infatuation. I don't know if I can call it inspiring, even though I want to. I'm not inspired to go and drop incendiary bombs on Vietnam, but the lessons he portrays are really worthwhile.
