Explosive Morning Leads to Self Enlightenment Essays - Kirk

Angela Beima Professor Metz Eng 111-07N 14 Feb 2011 Explosive Morning Leads To Self Enlightenment In ?The Breakfast That Changed My Life?, author Kelsey Kirk gives clear and vivid details( making you feel like you are there), while giving a personal account of a single day in one soldier?s military career that changed their life. The story is well-organized with a beginning, middle, and an end. A collegiate audience would appreciate the writer?s account of the events that lead up to the moment that changed their life and, although lacking a few key details, Kirk?s attempt at telling a story that is believable and compelling is superb. Kirk begins his story by describing the atmosphere of the morning of May 14, 2004 while serving in Baghdad, Iraq, stating that the sun was out ?burning the haze off the land? and that the temperature was already seventy-five degrees in the shade. (23) However, Kirk fails to mention the current time, so we are left to wonder what time of day it is and why it is significant that the temperature is ?already? seventy-five degrees. He then goes on to tell us that he was a medic in a medical company in the army. This is where he goes into detail telling us exactly what his title is, as well as what Division of the army he is in. In the next paragraph the author tells us that they worked the night shift, giving both military times and non-military times, when stating the hours they worked. Giving the reader this information is helpful for those who might not know how to convert military time to standard time. The author also tells us that they have a ?counterpart? who shared his shift. He d escribes the smell of burning trash and tires combined with sulfur and how this combination made their noses twinge when they first stepped out of the tent. (23) They would enjoy breakfast in a ?giant white tent? that reminded him of the circus. They would then retrieve the trays as they left. (24) As they were watching CNN on the ?big screen? televisions and laughing about a joke, an explosion occurred in the distance. They both raised their heads to listen. The author was not worried because they were in a combat zone and he had become familiar with ?booms? in the distance. (24) They continued their conversation. They soon discovered that the enemy was ?walking in? mortars. The author then begins to explain what mortars are. This explanation is extremely helpful to those who don?t know what mortars are. He then goes on to explain the ?walking in? method that the insurgents use when launching these mortars. (24) After the dust settled Kirk began triaging patients while his ?counterpart? Newhart went to get help. It is during this process when Kirk notices a ?young, blond-headed? man lying face down on the floor. (25) He discovers that a fragment from the mortars had entered his shoulder and was in his spinal cord, quite possibly severing it. When the young man asks him why he can?t feel his legs, Kirk says nothing. He just places his hand on the bleeding wound and applies pressure. (25) This is the moment in which we are to believe changed Kirks life, but he does not state this. In that moment Kirk might have realized that life is precious and that it can be taken away from you at any time at any given moment, whether in a combat zone or waiting in line at the drive-thru, but again he does not state this. Kirk?s story is both believable and compelling, but the question that is on every reader?s mind is, ?What happened to the young-blond haired man? Did he survive his injuries? This information is not given in the story. Kirk only revealed that a fragment from the mortars had gone into the young man?s shoulder and was in his spinal cord, which quite possibly could have been severed as a result. (26) Kirk also does not say how this moment changed his life and why. It is only inferred that this was the moment that changed his life. As a reader, the reason that a particular moment changed the