Exploration 5- Haley Miner

1.  The story that has meant the most to me so far was when Tim was talking about how he is always writing war stories or telling them and his daughter keeps telling him that he has an obsession. This means the most to me because my father was in the Vietnam War and I use to love hearing all of his stories about his time in Vietnam. My dad never forgot anything from that war even though he wished he did. Tim says "But the thing about remembering is that you don't forget." Tim could try to forget all the things that happened but he never will because he will always have that memory of Vietnam.
2.One person I connect with is Elroy Berdahl because he never had to ask Tim why he was there. It was like he knew already and he never brought it up. Elroy could tell it was best to just let things lie and not be spoken about. He is a kind old man that wants to help in anyway he can. It is almost like he has that third sense and can tell things about people even when they are not said. I like to believe that I can see the pain and hurt in people as well. I always do my best to help and that is what I see Elroy doing. I know that in my time of need I would like a random stranger to help me and not ask any questions. It was just the kind thing to do.
3.One thing I noticed is Tim always takes us back to the title when it comes to the things they carried. He does not have to directly say who carried what but you can tell by his writing that every person in this book has something physical and emotion that they carry with them. Tim does a good job at showing the characters personalities and troubles they have as the book goes on.
4."You can't fix your mistakes. Once people are dead, you can't make them undead." This quote impacted me because it shows that he knew what he would have to deal with if he did not run away to Canada. He knew he did not want to kill other people when he believed America should not have been in this war. Tim did not want to make the mistake of taking another person's life and regret it later on. It impacts me because people make mistakes every day and think nothing of it, but when it comes to life or death they do not take the time to think about if they are doing the right thing or if they are just hurting other people.