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I'm not sure if you know, but today many "millenial generation" high school students are planning a walk out from school to go demonstrate against the war downtown. My son is one of them. I was just saying to him earlier this week that I remember being pregnant with him when I heard the news that we bombed Iraq, the first time around (desert storm). An issue that we have dealt with, and other families with kids his age, is when the kids were old enough to start perceiving what was going on, and the anxiety and hopelessness they feel about the state of the world. It's really hard to convince and 11 or 12 year old that despite our country being involved in something so horrible, it's still OK to allow yourself to plan a future and recognize the good in the world, instead of just feeling guilty and sad about something beyond your control. I had to tell him that there has been a war in everyone's lifetime since the beginning of civilization, and that it's more or less a part of human existence. That's sad to tell your child.
Also, it brought up a thought about when I was a small child during the Vietnam war. As far as I knew, the war was a PLACE, and the adults would turn on the TV every evening to see what was happening at that place. I viewed it as the permanent situation at wherever that place was, and no one explained anything about it to me. What's even scarier is that I completed a college education, and at no point in my entire education was the Vietnam war ever discussed.

posted 5 years, 2 months ago
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