Ryz brought home an age-old TV serial that aired on our local television screens in '98. Pakistani folks know what I'm talking about - it was called, "Alpha Bravo Charlie," a TV serial regarded as touching and timeless by many. It's about the coming-of-age of a group of friends serving in the Pakistan army.
I just remember older girls crushing on the men in uniform in the drama.
Ryz and my cousin got, "Alpha Bravo Charlie" on DVD with the hopes of watching the complete series. Naturally they started from episode 1. It's charming, I get why people liked it so much when it initially aired.
The storyline started to drag on, or maybe I wasn't sitting still long enough to be drawn in by the plot. Either way, I checked out the synopsis online.
And I didn't want to watch it anymore.
Yes, it showed the Pakistan army in a positive light, and it was so human and real in terms of the relationships portrayed by the characters.
I should have been filled with the warm, fuzzy feeling of watching an old TV show that depicted human emotions with a subtle charm.
Instead, I was only reminded of Wilfred Owen's narrative of serving in the army.
Particularly, "Dulce et Decorum est" - It was a poem on war, and the title was taken from Horace's poem. It literally means, "It's sweet and fitting." The complete phrase is, "Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori" which means, "It's sweet and fitting to die for your country." I keep coming back to poetry and literature taught to me in school, and allude them to present experiences. I've got to appreciate the teachers who worked so hard with me to build a strong literary foundation in middle school.
Here's how he ended his poem. Wilfred Owen died exactly one week before the Armistice ending WWI was signed. He died in battle.
If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood
Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs,
Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud
Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues,
My friend, you would not tell with such high zest
To children ardent for some desperate glory,
The old Lie; Dulce et Decorum est
Pro patria mori.
So yeah, I don't want to watch this TV show.
