I ain't marching anymore by Phil Ochs-the military history of the United States

I ain’t marching anymore is a song from Phil Ochs. It deals with various important battles and wars of the American history. America has a long and complicated military history; the US had been involved in numerous wars and battles and had had a lot of influences on the course of human event.  Ochs came up during the Vietnam War with this song. It was used in a lot of protests and demonstrations against it. The song is sung from the perspective of a single soldier (which is of course not possible), who claims to have taken place in every of these wars.

“Oh I marched to the battle of New Orleans

At the end of the early British war

The young land started growing

The young blood started flowing

But I ain't marchin' anymore”

In the first verse Ochs refers to the Battle of New Orleans (1815), which took place during the British war, also known as the Anglo American war or the war of 1812. The Battle of New Orleans was the last big battle of the Anglo American war. The American defeated the British and in the end of the war, the status quo ante bellum was reintroduced, in other words everything remained like it was before.

“For I've killed my share of Indians

In a thousand different fights

I was there at the Little Big Horn

I heard many men lying I saw many more dying

But I ain't marchin' anymore”

In the second verse Ochs sings about the Native American war/American Indian war/Indian War which lasts from the 16^th until the 19^th century. During that time the subjugation of the indigenous people of America took place. The American settlers fought multiple times against the American indigenous people, one of the thousands battles they went through was the Battle of the Little Big Horn (1876). The Battle of the Little Big Horn represents one of the only victories of the Indian tribes (Lakota, Northern Cheyenne, Arapahoe) against the US government.

“For I stole California from the Mexican land

Fought in the bloody Civil War

Yes I even killed my brothers

And so many others But I ain't marchin' anymore”

The Mexican War and the Civil War are mentioned in the third verse.
The Mexican war, also known as the American-Mexican war is the conflict between the two countries from 1846-1848. The US wanted to expand their territory and managed to invade several regions of Mexico. They also had a dispute about the, at this stage, independent Texas. Mexico didn’t recognise the independence; the consequence: a battle between Mexico and the US. In the end the US invaded Texas and California.
Furthermore the Civil War place a role in this verse. It took place from 1861 to 1865. It was a conflict between the Confederate States and the United States, triggered by their attitudes towards slavery. The Confederate states were in favour of slavery, the United States considered slavery as degrading.  After the victory of the United States, slavery was abolished.

“For I marched to the battles of the German trench

In a war that was bound to end all wars

Oh I must have killed a million men

And now they want me back again

But I ain't marchin' anymore”

The fourth verse is about the Americans in World War 1. Before 1917 the US was an important supplier for Britain and other Allied powers. In 1918 the US forces fought in large numbers at the Western Front until victory was achieved.

“For I flew the final mission in the Japanese sky

Set off the mighty mushroom roar

When I saw the cities burning I knew that I was learning

That I ain't marchin' anymore”

During the Pacific War, Japan attacked pearl harbour, which resulted in the joining of the US in the Pacific war and consequently also in World War 2. During World War 2 the United States dropped atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Furthermore the US fought against Germany and Italy with the Allies.

“Now the labor leader's screamin'

when they close the missile plants,

United Fruit screams at the Cuban shore,

Call it "Peace" or call it "Treason,"

Call it "Love" or call it "Reason,"

But I ain't marchin' any more,

No I ain't marchin' any more”

And last but not least, the Cuba Crises is mentioned. Because of the deployment of missiles of the US in Turkey, the Soviet Union stationed medium range missiles at Cuba; as a result the US threatened to use atomic bombs, if necessary. After 15 terrifying days (1962), they came to an agreement: The US removed the missiles in Turkey and Russia removed the missiles in Cuba.

I am not sure if I have interpreted every song correctly or if the facts about the single wars/battles are totally faultless, but I gave it a try, just to give you an overview about the military history of the US. If you have any further information or suggestions of improvement, please feel free to add them in a comment.

Have a nice Sunday :)

Lassana Bathily gets French nationality

Have you heard the latest news about Lassana Bathily? No? Then just go on reading!
Originally Bathily is Malines, but he is living in France as a refugee since 2006. Since he saved some peoples’ life, by hiding them from the hostage-taker, he is also France’s hero. To honour his courageous act Cazeneuve, Minister for Interior of France will award him with the French nationality next week. What do you think of this gesture? Do you think it is justified? Do you have to save a life in order to get accepted in a country? On the one hand Bathily is, as the newspapers call him, a hero and I want to make clear that in my opinion he deserves the French nationality, but on the other hand the act shows how little effort is put in the process of putting up refugees, when a man has to wait for 7 years and to save a life to become a resident of France.
Think about it and form your own opinion if there is too much hurly burly about it.

Lassana Bathily - The Muslim hero

I think everybody is enlightened about the latest news of the assassinations in Paris. If not I recommend you to watch a news program more often ;)
I am writing about Lassana Bathily today, because due to the culprits of a happening, the heroes often get in the background. Lassana is a hero regarding to the latest occurrences in Paris. He is an employee of the concerning kosher supermaket. When Coulibaly attacked the shop, he was in the cellar, praying. Suddenly several buyers stormed into the cellar to hide from the hostage-taker. Bathily sent them into the refrigerated storage room, switched it off, turned the lights off and closed it. After Coulibaly had sent someone downstairs because he heard noises, Lassana himself and four other victims went up the stairs and promised that there is no one else hiding in the basement. With this courageous deed, he saved the life of a number of people. His acting does not only show us that we should help each other, but also emphasizes the fact that not all Muslims are members of the IS. We should not judge after the religion, but owing to their acts. 

German expressions that you should't translate word by word into English

Actually I wanted to write a blog post about Fernweh today, but I realised that an English expression for Fernweh doesn’t exist. However you can paraphrase it and say: having an ache for distant places or to crave for travel. While searching for a proper translation for Fernweh, I discovered some other German words that cannot be translated into English and found out some interesting and funny facts about them. For instance, we use the phrase Bist du lebensmüde? in German in various situation. Are you tired of living is mostly connected with committing suicide or suicidal tendency. Then there is the Bavarian word Biergarten, an English person would rather refer to an open-air drinking establishment. If he would reach his destination in Bavaria with this glossing-over is doubtful. To conquer one‘s weaker self sounds good, but the Germans are not satisfied with the translation of this expression, so they say den inneren Schweinehund überwinden. Another example for the difference of the two languages is Fremdschämen. Who isn’t used to this common expression? Of course, the English. Originally they didn’t have a verb for it and used empathetic embarrassment, but I think recently the phrase to feel embarrassed for someone is accepted as well.
Of course every language has its own words and phrases, because every language has its own grammar, structure and its own history, I just puzzled by those words and felt the need to share them with you.

Sports in everyday life

Experts advise at least 30 minutes of physical activity every day. Who has time for that? Nowadays we are very busy. Everybody is snowed under with work, should cultivate their social contacts, do the housework and should, recording to some crazy bloggers even carry out social work. So where is the time for 30 minutes gym? Guess what, you don’t need to go to the gym to fulfil the experts’ advice. You can split the 30 minutes and get some sport activities into your everyday life. My first advice: always take the stairways. It may only take you some minutes and influences your joints, cholesterol level and oxygen absorption in a positive way. In addition it lowers the mortality risk. Secondly, get your bike out of the cellar. Go everywhere by bike, to your work place, university,..you will be able to kill two birds with one stone- being sporty and environmentally friendly. If you have to rely on public transports, alight some stations earlier and walk! Thirdly, take the hen party outside. Instead of chatting with your friends in a bar, you can go for a walk or jogging. Not to forget, even to mow the lawn counts as physical activity. To come to an end you can see that there are plenty possibilities to keep active even if your timetable doesn’t allow it. 

How to write a good paragraph

Paragraph writing is part and parcel for essay writing. No matter if you choose an expository text type or a persuasive one, a narrative text type or a creative one, good paragraph writing is indispensable. First you have to be clear what exactly you will be writing about then start to brainstorm and note the most important ideas relating to that topic. Now the real writing can begin. The introductory sentence also known as the topic sentence serves to show the main ideas of your paragraph. It should contain each idea or thought that you will be writing about in the main part. Subsequently three supportive sentences follow. Those sentences should include the ideas you wrote down before. It is important that the supportive ideas are connected to each other. To achieve coherency use transition words, for instance first, second, third. And last but not least a concluding sentence can’t miss. It should more or less summarize your paragraph, so it should have the same content like your first sentence, but don’t use the same vocabulary, rewrite it. Good luck for your future paragraph writing, I hope I could give you a helpful insight.

PS: If you have a black out while writing a paragraph, just think of the hamburger ;)

3 reasons why you should have carried out social work at least once in your lifetime

Last year I spent 3 months in Sri Lanka working in a children's home. Therefore I gained a lot of recognition of various kinds of people: teachers, friends, relatives. However I wondered why everybody was telling me what a good job I did, but nobody of these guys ever figured out doing something like this on their own. So I thought of some arguments that could maybe convince you to follow my lead. Number one: We have a good life. We can admit that we have a perfect life. We are healthy. We have a roof over our heads. We never have to hunger. We have people around us, who love us. But sometimes we forget our luck. We take things for granted. We forget that in our eyes normal things can be luxury in the eyes of someone else. People who cannot enjoy what’s normal in your opinion can help your to appreciate “normality” and to stay on the ground. In addition offering a helping hand in an old people’s home or going for a stroll with a handicapped person can also bring a smile to your face -  Life is all about give and take. And last but not least will volunteer work be a positive aspect in your CV. Almost every employee will be enthusiastic about the fact that someone is helpful and cooperative. So instead of rotting in front of the TV, move your body, apply for two hours per month in a counselling, attend in a social project abroad in your holidays, help your granny with the cooking, whatever, just get active ;)
I hope I could encourage some of you.