Still Life by Emily Mann

I have never been in a war zone, nor do I personally know anyone who has. Despite that, I found the heart of this piece very relatable. Throughout, Mark, the narrator, is trying to both share and conceal the action that is eating him away inside, giving hints and clues but only calling the action "it." He knows now that it was a terrible thing to do, one single action that will haunt him and color his perception for the rest of his life: the brutal annihilation of an entire family. But it isn't just about the action-- it's about the framework and culture of war that led him to that act. Even though he was the only one complicit in that final act, the context of his life in the military before then, of control and power, which led him to feel, in that moment, that it was okay. That atmosphere of possibility, that lack of responsibility, is something I feel everyone has known, even if not to such extremes. I have known moments in which I had the possibility of, and was perhaps encouraged towards, doing something that I either felt or knew was wrong because of that sense that the rules didn't apply to me in that situation. Magnified out of the standard proportion of daily life, this piece makes me rethink the boundaries of we are and are not willing to-- it all depends on the context of the situation.