The Experience of Conflict Changes Peoples

Going through conflict can force people’s lives to change drastically both physically and mentally. It can improve someone’s mental state and make them a stronger person or it can completely ruin them. Conflict can bare negative consequences on people’s lives forcing them to do things they wouldn’t choose to do and breaking them mentally. The commonly recognized conflict of war changes people’s life’s in many ways but in the poem ‘Disabled’ by Wilfred Owen sharing the story of a battered war veteran, shows that it has had a depressing effect on the main character. The tribulations of war not only affected him physically by needing three of his limbs amputated but affected him deep down, making him feel less of the man he use to be. The conflict of war had changed him from an attractive ladies man to nothing but a saddened and crippled figure left to spend years in an institution.

For Najaf, on the other hand, life was altered in a different manner, he was forced by conflict to take a massive risk and flee from his country to seek asylum in Australia. The fact that Najaf saw that stepping onto a rickety old boat was a better option to staying in his own country just shows the severity of the dangers to living in Afghanistan. This is a huge change for someone to make in their lives. For some of the asylum seekers moving away from their families and getting put into the poor conditions of the refugee camps was just too much. Some didn’t make it to Australia in the first place and if they did some chose to make trouble in the camps and pick fights. Najaf however was different, he wanted to prove he was going to be an asset to the Australian community. Suffering this conflict and being forced to move from his own country just highlighted Najaf’s great integrity and willingness to change so he would fit into the Australian life. He showed leadership and took up a roll helping to run the cafeteria, he was always very diplomatic in the way he did so, making sure that everyone got even amounts of food to prevent any fighting that might arise. By showing such initiative he was well liked and progressed through the refugee sorting system quite quickly. If conflict had not been put upon Najaf’s life he may not of been able to show these persistent qualities. In the end he saw that going through this conflict was going to improve his quality of living and change his life for the better so he did what it took to get through it. The poem ‘Disabled’ and Najaf’s life story portray two very different paths people can take when faced with conflict. Some such as Najaf see what the future can hold and rise to conquer the conflict but others can be broken by it and give up.