Life — November 15, 1917 — page 7: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# Analysis of "Courage, Dear!" from Life Magazine This page presents a patriotic poem by Edmund Kiefer titled "Courage, Dear!" addressing someone (likely a soldier) departing for military service, presumably during World War I given the historical context of Life magazine. The satirical cartoon below depicts a military recruitment or conscription scene. An official appears to be rejecting an applicant, declaring him "REJECTED, AM I? PHYSICALLY UNFIT, AM I?" The figures surrounding him—appearing disheveled and desperate—suggest men anxious about or struggling with military acceptance standards. The satire likely mocks the tension between patriotic calls for service and the physical examination process that determined eligibility. It contrasts the emotional rhetoric of courage with the bureaucratic reality of fitness assessments, poking fun at both recruiting protocols and applicants' reactions to rejection or acceptance.