Tag: World War II

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CAN WE SURVIVE WW III?

I’m probably one of the few people left  in this country who lived through World War II—beginning and end. I remember a childhood filled with horror stories about the holocaust, and the near annihilation of Europe .  At the time, we were energy independent. Nevertheless,  rationing was taken for granted—a fact of life.  You could only use so much gas, drink so much coffee, and make so much chocolate cake, to name a few restrictions.    But are most Americans ready for that once again?  And more importantly, are they aware that their sons, brothers, and husbands could be drafted if this war spreads into Poland and Central Europe? Can we survive WW III?

Can we survive WW III? Is it possible that history is repeating itself.
CAN WE SURVIVE WW III? At the beginning of WW II, we were energy independent.

Right now, we’re begging Saudi Arabia for oil.  We are not energy independent.  Yes, it would be great if we could eliminate  fossil fuels in the next few years , but we might be throwing out the baby with the bath water.

All of our clothes come from China, a country that seemingly would rather see us under Soviet rule than keep us as a well paying customer.  Whatever happened to clothes made here in the USA?  Why is our trade deficit worsening, with  imports increasingly  exceeding  our exports?

The politicians keep telling us that if Russia takes Ukraine, it could mean the beginning of World War Three.  The beginning?  Are you kidding?  We’re already in it.  When the USA , Central and  Western European countries are providing arms to the Ukraine, we’re at war.  The only  thing that’s missing is boots on the ground.  And that seems more and more likely.

Instead of focusing on climate change and other social issues, it seems to me we should  put those dreams on hold , and face the reality of our situation.  All of our national effort should focus on being self sufficient .  Farmers, especially, should be supported by ample fuel and fertilizer.  We probably ought to be stockpiling commodities right now.

Can we survive World War Three?  Yes, we can.  But it won’t be easy unless we’re self sufficient.

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WHERE WERE YOU ON 9/11?

There are a few days in your lifetime that you remember forever, in great detail.  Where you were, who you were with, and how you felt.  Where were you on 9/11?

For me, it was similar to that first huge memory on Nov. 22, 1963, when Kennedy was shot.  My firstborn was one month old, and I can remember the sun shining in our apartment window in Evanston, Illinois. My then husband was at work in downtown Chicago.  I know I was wearing a black sweater, and my son had on a little white sleeper.

 For about an hour, I simply sat and listened and watched, too stunned to move.  Suddenly, the stay-at-home moms  came out of their apartments and onto the sidewalk, and finally gathered in my apartment because it was the largest and could hold the most people.  And we talked and watched TV,  and no one had anything to eat or drink for hours.

On 9/11, it was a different story.  My husband was able to take walks then, and he had a radio plugged into his ear.   It was a warm , sunny day and we were both wearing sleeveless shirts.   He heard it right away, of course, but when he told me what had happened, I thought at first it was a hoax, or he was mistaken.  Even then, we had no idea how extensive the damage, or how many people had been killed.  Finally, we passed a house where a young man whom we had never met came out from his doorway, and asked us if we had heard what happened.  So it was true.  We shook our heads, and mutely turned away, too stunned to reply.

Looking back, it seems strange that we were at war, but war was never declared (how did that differ from the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor?)  and life went on pretty much the same for those who lived far from New York & DC.

But we will never forget. Where were you on 9/11?

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WHO’S HOARDING BLACK PEPPER?

Scary times bring out the hoarding instinct.  Anyone who lived through World War II remembers the hoarders.  My mothers best friend hoarded sugar, even though she seldom baked, and both she and her husband were thin.  At the end of the war, she still had metal canisters of the stuff in her attic.  Some of it had hardened into lumps.  I’ve always wondered if she kept it forever, or if not, how she disposed of it. Now, people are doing it again.  Notice the empty shelves for certain items?  Odd stuff, you would never dream of.  Yesterday, I tried to buy some pepper, but the shelves were totally cleaned out. It’s a puzzle.  Who’s hoarding black pepper?

 

Panic buyers are stockpiling food during the pandemic
Who’s hoarding black pepper.  Panic buying has caused scarcity in some unlikely products.

Back in March, when the pandemic first began., I saw a man at CVS with over twenty bottles of Picante  sauce in his cart.  The manager  asked if he would leave a few bottles on the shelf.  Picante  sauce?  Does this guy eat it on his eggs at breakfast, his grilled cheese at lunch, and on his beef tacos at night? Or is he afraid they’re going to run out?  It’s hard to believe anyone would hoard Picante sauce.

Canned soup is another scarcity.  About all that’s readily available on the shelves is Cream of Mushroom and Chicken Noodle.  A lot of people don’t like mushrooms, so that’s easy to understand.  And Chicken Noodle isn’t filling enough to make a meal.  The other day, I opened our pull out cupboard shelves, and noticed they were full of canned soup.  My husband has secretly been stocking up every time he goes to the store and finds one of his favorites, like Nacho Cheese.  Last week, they had Tomato Bisque, which is another favorite.  So he brought home more cans of it.   Since I don’t have soup for lunch, I’m thinking there’s enough soup in the cupboard  to get him through the fall.

Technically, these people aren’t hoarders, they’re panic buyers.  Hoarding is a mental disorder where someone acquires a lot of things they don’t need, and can’t throw them away.   Panic buying started when everyone was told they need to stock up for two weeks worth of groceries. People weren’t sure how much they might need, so they began over buying. With panic buying, people fear scarcity. They want to stay in control of the situation.

Meanwhile, the grocery business is exploding. Before the pandemic, you seldom saw people buying over $100 worth of groceries at a time.  Now, it’s quite common. If and when the pandemic ends, I’m wondering what people are going to do with all that black pepper.

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WHAT IS OUR FOREIGN POLICY?

In my home town, I’m acquainted with  a diverse group of people. Because of our respective careers , my husband and I know folks from every race, religion, and  socio-economic background.  If I were to sit down with some of them and ask, “what is our foreign policy?” I don’t think anyone would give me the same answer.

Some  professors,  politicians, and military could probably voice a well informed opinion.  But even in this college town, those people are few and far between.

When FDR signed a declarration of war against Japan, everyone understood USA foreign policy
Everyone in the USA understood our foreign policy when FDR declared war against Japan in 1941..

When I was a child, the USA foreign policy  was pretty clear.  We were fighting Germany and Japan.  The Germans hated the Jews, and the Japanese hated us.  If we didn’t enter the war, they would take over our country , kill our priests, and make us do  horrible things to our fellow human beings.

A few years after WWII ended in 1945,  almost every young man I knew was drafted and sent to Korea.  Again, we had a  pretty clear foreign  policy:  Fighting communism.

 

Then we entered the long, agonizing  war in Vietnam.  Our sons, brothers, husbands and fathers were  drafted to continue the  fight  against Marxist communism.  Most of us protested. However,  the politicians convinced us that if our guys didn’t fight and die in Southeast Asia, we’d soon be ruled by the communists. We lost that war, but saved our democracy.

The State department  says their  foreign policy goals are to preserve national security, promote world peace, promote democratic values, work with our allies to solve international problems.  and further cooperative foreign trade,

But  how is the average American supposed to figure out what the United States is up to all over the world?  The cold war is supposedly over, but we’re impeaching a president because he held up aid to a corrupt Ukraine in their fight against Russia.  Does that make sense?  If that’s what we’re doing, it looks like the cold war is really a hot war.

Supposedly, we’re not at war with anyone in the Middle East. But if you were alive on 9/11, it felt pretty much like Pearl Harbor to those of us who were around both times. We actually were at war after 9/11, but it was never declared.

If you were alive during the Pearl Harbor attack, 9/11 seemed like we were at war again
No one questioned our foreign policy when FDR declared war against Japan

We’ve been sending our troops  all over the Middle East for years, even though we don’t need their oil any more  We’ve got all the oil we need right here in the good old USA .   Also,  we have wind farms and other forms of  cleaner energy.  But the politicians give us the same old excuse they did  about communism.  They tell us we’re fighting  terrorism there so we don’t have to fight it here.

Why are we trying to maintain toxic relationships with countries who hate us? Any therapist would tell us that’s crazy.  Our foreign policy is incoherent to the average person who goes to work every day, worries about paying their mortgage, and educating their children.

People  cared more about our foreign policy when men  were being drafted  against their will.  Now that the US military is  an all  volunteer  service, no one feels as strongly as they once did. And more importantly, our foreign policy  doesn’t influence their vote nearly as much  as the cost of  health care,  prescription drugs, and the unemployment rate.

What is our foreign policy?  Does anyone really know?

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TEENAGE ANGST & SCHOOL SHOOTINGS

The word “teenager” didn’t even exist until the early 1950’s.  Before that, teen aged children had some pretty serious things on their minds.  Their parents were just coming out of the depression and World War II.  Many teens were  lucky to have a roof over their head and 3 meals a day.  They made their own entertainment, playing ball, and outdoor games like Kick The Can.   They  didn’t have cell phones or cars or laptops.  And they didn’t take guns to school.  Now, teenage angst and school shootings are on the rise.

tEENAGERS SPEND TOO MUCH TIME WITH TECHNOLOGY
BEFORE THE RISE OF THE WORLD WIDE INTERNET, TEENS DIDN’T SPEND HOURS PLAYING VIOLENT VIDEO GAMES

Most teenagers in the early 50’s had after school or weekend jobs.  We bought out own clothes ( or made them) and paid our own way to the movies.  Since we hung out at the drug store when we weren’t working,  we saved up for money to buy cokes and milkshakes.  If someone borrowed their parent’s car, they were expected to pay for their own gas.  Most moms didn’t work, so if  Dad lost his job,  the teen had to help out with food and other basics.

Some of our high school classmates were Jewish or Catholic World War II refugees,  from places like Germany and Poland.

What kinds of job did kids have? For girls, mostly baby sitting until you were fifteen.  After that, you could get a sales job at a department store.  Guys mowed lawns and worked as stock boys. If the dad had his own business, a boy was expected to work there on weekends if he wanted extra money to take his girlfriend out on a date.  Restaurants were mostly locally owned, and there were no fast food franchises like McDonald’s where teens could work.

My country cousins had guns.  They hunted in the woods and shot rattlesnakes.  A gun was a necessity for protection if you were isolated on a farm.  Generally speaking, city boys did not have guns.

Fast forward to 1990, the year when the World Wide Internet was established.  In a comparatively affluent society (compared to 1950) kids stayed home and played on the internet. They sent e mails. watched porn, and learned about guns.  Instead of going to a movie once a week, they could watch TV every day, and see lots of violence in action . Then, in 2004, along came Facebook.

Beginning in 1998,  school shootings began to increase. During the 20th century, mass school shootings killed 55 people and injured 260 others at schools,  especially in America’s Western region. Most of the 25 shooters involved were white males who acted alone, and only nine were diagnosed as suffering from mental illnesses at the time. Sixty percent of shooters were between 11 and 18 years old.

It’s getting worse in the 21st century. According to a recent study,  more people have died or been injured in mass school shootings in the US in the past 18 years than in the entire 20th century.

Here’s how it looks from here.   Teenagers today have too much of everything, including leisure time to bully each other on Facebook, have sex, play violent video games, and yes, think about taking a gun to school and shooting someone because they’re suffering from “teenage angst.”

Is gun control the answer to the problem?  Or is there something wrong with the way kids are being raised today?