h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

>No.


Fact.<

Sorry I don't understand what you are trying to communicate. May I ask you to clarify?

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Yes you may.


But I won´t go into details.


And I´m not "trying" to communicate. I´m merely stating a fact.


TD.

Just honestly curious-- Did any of you have to practice "Duck and Cover" exercises in grade school during the Cuban Missile Crisis? I did and later learnt that it really meant "Duck and cover and kiss your ass goodbye!" I think with the present situation in the Middle East, If America and Israel doesn't back down, we'll be doing the same thing all over again. I have a very distinct memory of air raid signals going off not far from my school. I was looking around and no-one was reacting, not even the teacher. I was scared and in my polite manner (at the time) I put up my hand and said "why aren't we under our desks?" To which the teacher replied " Don't worry, it's only a drill" I was the only student in the classroom who reacted! Much of the same scenario could play out today. Not enough people are reacting to the real threat of catostrophic war in the middle east because we are sooooo far away that some don't think it will affect us.

I do not remember anty of the duck and cover exercises. I belive they were a few years before me. I do however remember seeing public announcement films in my early grades about nuclear war. One of my most vivid memories as a child was picking up my aunt and cousins during the cuban missle crises {they were living on base with my uncle down south who was a high ranking navy officer} We brought them up north to stay with us. I remember one evening the adults {who did not think us children were listening} talking in low voices that the end of the world was coming. I could hear the fear in their voices. God I was so scared.

Funny I have not thought of that for years.

It's strange. I remember almost the same scenario. Although we were up here in Toronto Canada, I distinctly remember a very tense feeling or vibration in the house. My parents were constantly on edge whilst they viewed the evening news. I conveyed my feelings of the time a few months ago with my mother and she replied " no i don't remember any tension, it must have been in your mind" Another example of that generation"s denial ofit won't happen to me! I was scared back then and my parents dismissed my fears. I kind of resent that! I won't make the same mistake with my own children! Yes i was terrified at the time myself, and no-one aknowledged that fear. I was alone in my thoughts.

Starbirth- It's fuuny for me too- I haven't thought about it for years either. It's wierd how certain things trigger one's memory - good or bad. K

OK some of you may think that I'm over doing it or am scattered with my thoughts but.... Tonight on CBC radio it was announced that the world renowned author Rohinton Mistry has cancelled his US tour because he has been consistantly harrased at each airport because of his skin colour. The US has recently declared that anyone who was born in a Muslim based country will be fingerprinted at the border or airport. Regardless of their present Citizenship. Rohinton Mistry is from Indian background. But because his skin colour isn't White he has been Harrased. Which brings me to this point. Why should an appearance of a race other than WHITE automatically give a government the right to question that person's allegiance to whatever? Case in point, recently, a Canadian Citizen of Syrian birth was deported back to Syria by the American Authorities simply because he was born "over there" Although we now know he is in Syria, we don't know precisely what has happened to him. Paranoia at the very least. I'm so sick of the American Government telling the rest of the world that they are the protecters of the earth and that no-one else has anything to contribute. History has proven that america only looks out for it's own interests. The nation only goes into a war zone when it is evidently "self-serving" President Bush had nothing to say about anything until 9/11 He was a useless Politician who won an election by default. He has never had an opinion that wasn't written by his speach writers. Unfortunately 9/11 gave him a platform for self righteosnous. And He is still useing that platform. Iraq has unimaginable resources in oil. Wouldn't it be marvelous for America to take control of this oil! Take a lesson from Michael Moore. Stop fearing What MIGHT BE OUT THERE and look at the reality. Most people of this planet want PEACE. The little guy isn't heard because in most countries, he hasnt the right to speak out. K'

I know what you mean. I did not realize how strong my feelings where until our conversation. I remember sitting around the living room with my family watching Walter Conkrite and the evening news during the time of the cuban crises. I would have been just shy of 5 at the time. I was asking my father if for my next birthday I could have a Go-cart {we had been out to an amusment park that day} like I had ridden in the park. Jokingly he told me I could if the world did not blow up in the next few days. I know now he said it as a joke for everyone in the room and had no Idea how it frightened me. I recall how that night I could not sleep and how petrified I was. What made it worse was I was raised with a very strict view that men did not show fear {boys included} or they were cowards. That night I could not decide what was worse being blown up or being scared of being blown up. I can not believe that I remember these things so clearly. Even more I did not think a 5 year old could be so cognizant of their surroundings. I have not thought about those
days since they occurred in the fall of 63. The more I think about it the closer it seems.

Tell me more of your recollections of that fall if you do not mind.