We have a fun/interesting experience yesterday.
Our next-door neighbor came over with her grandson. He was doing a high-school history project and needed to interview some older people about their history. (Damn! I remember when this kid was born! It was just a few months ago, I’m sure.)
He mostly talked to John, but I had to put my two bits worth in occasionally.
But the questions were so interesting - and really made us think. These are not all of them by any means, but….
Did we remember the Great Depression?
Did our families suffer during the Depression?
What sort of games did we play when we were children?
Did we remember Pearl Harbor?
Did we remember/what did we think about dropping the atomic bomb?
Where were we and what did we think about the assassination of JFK?
What did we think about the Vietnam War?
What did we think about Nixon’s ending the Vietnam War?
What did we think about Nixon’s resignation?
What did we think about Ford’s pardon of Nixon?
What did we think about the tearing down of the Berlin Wall?
What did we think about the impeachment of Clinton?
Where were we and what did we think when the planes flew into the towers?
What did we think about Bush’s going into Iraq?
What did we think about a black man being elected President?
What did we think about the Affordable Care Act?
I’m not sure this kid had ever heard anybody say they approved of “Obamacare” or of Obama as President. John tried to get him to say what he didn’t like about the health care act - what he specifically disagreed with. He couldn’t come up with anything, but at least John got him to think about it.
I’d like to think we let him know that there really are liberals out there in the world - and that we don’t have horns or want to destroy the world. And even more, that people can disagree and still be friends and have respect for the other’s opinion.
2 comments:
I think that child was assuming you are older than you really are. If my math is right, you cannot remember the effects of the Depression except from what your parents told you. (That's the only way I know.)
You two are a little older than I, so maybe you remember Pearl Harbor. I remember being at war, and I definitely remember VJ Day.
John was born in 1934, me in 1936. I don't remember Pearl Harbor, but I do remember VJ Day (parade downtown), and I vividly remember when FDR died. It was the first time I remember seeing my mother cry.
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