How would you answer?

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commonsense
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How would you answer?

Post by commonsense »

As a thought experiment, imagine that you were 18 years old when your homeland was involved in a war some years ago. Now you have children who want to know what you did during that war. How would you like to respond to their curiosity?

In other words,

there was a war,

you were a young adult at that time,

you now have offspring who ask what you did during then.
Age
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Re: How would you answer?

Post by Age »

commonsense wrote: Sat Mar 12, 2022 12:24 am As a thought experiment, imagine that you were 18 years old when your homeland was involved in a war some years ago. Now you have children who want to know what you did during that war. How would you like to respond to their curiosity?

In other words,

there was a war,

you were a young adult at that time,

you now have offspring who ask what you did during then.
I would answer them Honestly, and OPENLY.

How would you answer your offspring who asked you questions?
commonsense
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Re: How would you answer?

Post by commonsense »

Age wrote: Sat Mar 12, 2022 12:41 am
commonsense wrote: Sat Mar 12, 2022 12:24 am As a thought experiment, imagine that you were 18 years old when your homeland was involved in a war some years ago. Now you have children who want to know what you did during that war. How would you like to respond to their curiosity?

In other words,

there was a war,

you were a young adult at that time,

you now have offspring who ask what you did during then.
I would answer them Honestly, and OPENLY.

How would you answer your offspring who asked you questions?
Thank you for your reply. Let me change the OP question to:

What is the answer you would give when asked by your children to tell what you did during that war?

Examples:
I was drafted into the army to serve as a cook.
I enlisted in the navy and became a jet fighter pilot.
I fled my homeland and avoided military service.
I waited anxiously for my loved one to return home.
I was a prisoner of war.
I captured the leader of the enemy army.

Please expand your answer as best you can. Feel free to describe your actual actions during an actual war or reply with what you would’ve said, or wish you said, to your children or even your grandchildren after an imaginary war.
Age
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Re: How would you answer?

Post by Age »

commonsense wrote: Sat Mar 12, 2022 1:06 am
Age wrote: Sat Mar 12, 2022 12:41 am
commonsense wrote: Sat Mar 12, 2022 12:24 am As a thought experiment, imagine that you were 18 years old when your homeland was involved in a war some years ago. Now you have children who want to know what you did during that war. How would you like to respond to their curiosity?

In other words,

there was a war,

you were a young adult at that time,

you now have offspring who ask what you did during then.
I would answer them Honestly, and OPENLY.

How would you answer your offspring who asked you questions?
Thank you for your reply. Let me change the OP question to:

What is the answer you would give when asked by your children to tell what you did during that war?

Examples:
I was drafted into the army to serve as a cook.
I enlisted in the navy and became a jet fighter pilot.
I fled my homeland and avoided military service.
I waited anxiously for my loved one to return home.
I was a prisoner of war.
I captured the leader of the enemy army.

Please expand your answer as best you can. Feel free to describe your actual actions during an actual war or reply with what you would’ve said, or wish you said, to your children or even your grandchildren after an imaginary war.
I would STILL 'like to' tell the Truth ONLY. So, the answer I WOULD GIVE would be the Honest one.

Honestly I could NOT 'imagine' what it would REALLY be LIKE to live in a place where "my homeland" was involved in a war.

1. ALL wars can be so DIFFERENT.

2. The horrors of continually hearing gunfire and bombs being dropped, and NEVER knowing where those bullets and weapons will land, is something I would have to 'experience' first hand to even just be able to just 'imagine' just how HORRIFYING and TERRIFYING that would REALLY BE. And, especially as a child or new adult.

3. If I was to Truly 'imagine' what that would be like, there are still way to many 'variable' for me to 'decide' what I WOULD DO, And, it is ONLY what I WOULD ACTUALLY HAVE DONE that is what I would tell my children anyway.

Or, are you asking;

'IF you were in a country where war was taking place when you were 18 years old, then what kind of scenarios/experiences would you have 'liked to have had', from which to then share with your children, or grandchildren? Or, something like this?

Your question here is asking, to describe your ACTUAL ACTIONS during an ACTUAL WAR, but then also asking, what you WISH you had said after and IMAGINED WAR.

So, REALLY I still do NOT KNOW what it is that you are REALLY SEEKING here.
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henry quirk
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Re: How would you answer?

Post by henry quirk »

30 years from now...

Gruncle Henry, what did you do during the war?

Now, lil girl, you know I don't like talkin' about that.

I know, but Miss Swan gave us an assignment.

Who is Miss Swan?

My history teacher.

So you haffta write a report?

Mm-hmm.

Why don't you ask your dad...he was there.

But he was just a kid, and he said I should ask you.

Oh, did he.

Mm-hmm.

Well, shit.

Gruncle Henry!

I'm sorry, Jinny-girl...I guess I'm stuck, yeah?

Yep.

*long pause*

Okay, okay, okay...

*deep breath, slow exhale*

Okay...here we go...30 years ago various versions of The State, and the crazy people who ran them, decided to go at it. They did the usual crap and propagandized the hell out of it. Can't fight a war without fodder and...

Gruncle, I know all that. I wanna know what you did.

Well...okay...here we go...I killed agents of The State.

You killed people?

Yes.

But why?

Well, they were agents of The State...them people worked really hard to make people like me into fodder. As a citizen, I was supposed to follow where led, and I don't do that.

You killed people because they were pushy?

Well, it was a lil bit more than that. They were pushy with a big stick.

What big stick?

The law. See, back then they had a thing called emergency powers. That meant that any damn time the folks in charge wanted, for any reason they could come up with, any time they said there was an emergency, they could suspend citizen rights.

That's silly, Gruncle...nobody can suspend rights.

No, no one can, but these crazy people sure thought they could, or mebbe they just acted as though they could, and they used the law to make it happen.

And you killed 'em for it.

Some, yes.

How?

How what?

How did you kill 'em?

Well, there were all kinds of ways, but I'm not goin' in to that.

Aw, Gruncle!

No, you're a lil young for that, but if you really wanna know, ask your dad...he was there.

Well, shit...

Jinny!

Sorry, Gruncle...how many people did you kill?

Too many...they just kept comin' and comin', and they never let up...

What did they do?

What did your teacher tell you?

She said they made money worthless...

...yes....

...and ruined the economy...

...yes...

...and tried to make everybody fight...

...yes...

and they tried to run everybody's lives.

Yes...especially that last one.

And she said when the war came here, the soldiers from other places did the same thing.

Yes.

Were you a soldier, Gruncle?

Oh, no! I was just tryin' to stay alive...

...and free?

Oh, yes, Jinny-girl, and free.
promethean75
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Re: How would you answer?

Post by promethean75 »

I would tell my chilren that I ran. That I ran like a yellow-bellied coward.
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Sculptor
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Re: How would you answer?

Post by Sculptor »

commonsense wrote: Sat Mar 12, 2022 12:24 am As a thought experiment, imagine that you were 18 years old when your homeland was involved in a war some years ago. Now you have children who want to know what you did during that war. How would you like to respond to their curiosity?

In other words,

there was a war,

you were a young adult at that time,

you now have offspring who ask what you did during then.
I would tell them that all wars are rich men's wars and it matters not a jot who is in control.
But if you do not like your leaders do civil disobedience, because at the end of the day all invasions and conquests have succumbed to civil disobedience.
Skip
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Re: How would you answer?

Post by Skip »

You can only tell a story you have.
If you're proud of whatever you did, you tell a hero story.
If you're ashamed of what you did, you somebody else's story, an edited story, or none at all.
If you did nothing, you may want to share your reasons for that - or not.
In any case, it's your story, your past, your life. Nobody else has a right to it or a claim on it. The kid can ask, but it's up to you whether you want to answer.
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attofishpi
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Re: How would you answer?

Post by attofishpi »

commonsense wrote: Sat Mar 12, 2022 12:24 am As a thought experiment, imagine that you were 18 years old when your homeland was involved in a war some years ago. Now you have children who want to know what you did during that war. How would you like to respond to their curiosity?

In other words,

there was a war,

you were a young adult at that time,

you now have offspring who ask what you did during then.
We probably all were part of a war, at some point in time in our past lives. Sage told me "you were there.." when many years ago I felt rather guilty as to how i had lived my current life.

I find your hypothetical scenario rather ...short. You appear to ultimately be asking what we would have done...as if we can just make up such nonsense based on no known circumstances. Sorry, but this is ridiculous.
commonsense
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Re: How would you answer?

Post by commonsense »

attofishpi wrote: Sun Mar 13, 2022 9:40 am
commonsense wrote: Sat Mar 12, 2022 12:24 am As a thought experiment, imagine that you were 18 years old when your homeland was involved in a war some years ago. Now you have children who want to know what you did during that war. How would you like to respond to their curiosity?

In other words,

there was a war,

you were a young adult at that time,

you now have offspring who ask what you did during then.
We probably all were part of a war, at some point in time in our past lives. Sage told me "you were there.." when many years ago I felt rather guilty as to how i had lived my current life.

I find your hypothetical scenario rather ...short. You appear to ultimately be asking what we would have done...as if we can just make up such nonsense based on no known circumstances. Sorry, but this is ridiculous.
I think Skip gives an answer above that is anything but ridiculous and H. Quirk provides his narrative in detail.
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attofishpi
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Re: How would you answer?

Post by attofishpi »

commonsense wrote: Sun Mar 13, 2022 4:05 pm
attofishpi wrote: Sun Mar 13, 2022 9:40 am
commonsense wrote: Sat Mar 12, 2022 12:24 am As a thought experiment, imagine that you were 18 years old when your homeland was involved in a war some years ago. Now you have children who want to know what you did during that war. How would you like to respond to their curiosity?

In other words,

there was a war,

you were a young adult at that time,

you now have offspring who ask what you did during then.
We probably all were part of a war, at some point in time in our past lives. Sage told me "you were there.." when many years ago I felt rather guilty as to how i had lived my current life.

I find your hypothetical scenario rather ...short. You appear to ultimately be asking what we would have done...as if we can just make up such nonsense based on no known circumstances. Sorry, but this is ridiculous.
I think Skip gives an answer above that is anything but ridiculous and H. Quirk provides his narrative in detail.
Sure. I think in a hypothetical the parameters should be more defined.

Ok. So I was about 18 during the Kuwait war. My answer to my child.."I watched it on TV, in fact every war my country has been involved in ever since, I watched on TV."
Phil8659
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Re: How would you answer?

Post by Phil8659 »

I would tell them the truth.

I went to Canada to dodge the draft so that I could do my moral duty.

Then I came back and served for four years to do my civic duty.

Nobody told me you could only do one or the other.
Why would anybody have a problem with the truth?

I got to experience both sides of the situation and am glad I did.

Sometimes, you have to walk between the lines.\

If you want to fight for a country to uphold its own doctrines, how to fight the actual problem? A constitution claiming freedom of belief, but enslaving you to particular so called leaders of the country.
Here is a fact, our Constitution is suppose to be the de facto leader of this nation, up held by elected officials. Is that the truth of it, or is our very Leader, the Constitution, hostage?

Illiteracy. The noun, the absolute of every country is its claimed constitution, the relative, the verb, the elected officials sworn to uphold it, but being swindled every time, the fools and just so happy about it. Well a lolly pop for all! Every people of every nation in the world, are too stupid to know what a constitution means because they cannot reason their way out of a fucking paper body bag.

Have you ever thought, that the true freedom fighters of the world, are simply grammar teachers, and tit for tat, the greatest subversives of the world are grammar teachers who do not even know grammar?

What is written, You shall know the truth and the truth shall set your free, or You shall be stupid free from having to worry about it?
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