Posted on 08/01/2014 4:38:48 AM PDT by Homer_J_Simpson
Absolutely.
I remembered being 14 so clearly, reading that. It’s such a self-absorbed age, when you imagine everyone in the world is obsessed with judging you, because that’s how you are about yourself.
The poor little girl would probably have turned out to be a perfectly normal, even unremarkable, adult, if she’d lived.
I have no doubt about that.
But sometimes the times in which we live, especially if they are times dominated by evil, don’t allow for normal.
I think you're implying that we're living in times when people will be driven (or allow themselves to be sorted) to extremes ... and I agree.
If Anne Frank had been in different circumstances, she might have been a figure in the Dutch Resistance, like Audrey Hepburn at about the same age.
It’s always intensely interesting to look back on the broad sweep of history, like we do every day on these threads.
But wars are personal things, for those caught up in them.
God keep us and our children from having to learn that ourselves firsthand.
My oldest son Matthew made it through officer candidate school this week.
May he never have to put his training into practice.
Congrats to your son and best wishes for a future without the kind of thing we’re reading now.
My oldest daughter has been in the Coast Guard for five years. It’s sort of a law enforcement job right now, but anything could happen.
Matt’s been in the Idaho Guard for a number of years. Did one deployment to Iraq. Uneventful, compared to what we’re reading about here. Thank God.
Anoreth wanted to go to Iraq, but the Coast Guard offered the best opportunity for action to a 5’1” girl. She did two years in the Pacific on a cutter.
(and good night! 5:00 a.m. comes early!)
Night.
When I was in Mongolia I looked for WWII history there. I was told many went to war but never came back, so there were no stories to tell...................
You made me look at for at some Mongolian military history. They were very involved in 1939 with attacking Japan and then many were involved later in defencing Moscow? So some (few?) were captured by the Germans and then served the Germans in the west?
http://www.historynet.com/mongolia-1939-stalins-shrewd-opening-act.htm
BTW, today is also the 100th anniversary of the German declaration of war on Russia, which began the 31-year death of the European era in world history. The coroners of history ruled it a suicide.
Virtually all of the Kalmyks who began coming to New Jersey in 1951 had spent the years after World War II in displaced persons camps in Germany. They ended up there because, as the Nazis began their long retreat after the Battle of Stalingrad, some Kalmyks followed, staying just ahead of the Soviet Army.
http://mongolamerican.wordpress.com/tag/world-war-ii/
Not related to today’s post but while looking for other things, found that Stalin had a son. Didn’t know that.
http://rt.com/news/prime-time/stalin-son-death-declassified-935/
He had two sons and a daughter. One son was captured by the Germans in 1941 and died in captivity. The other was a drunk. The daughter came to live in the United States. She had a sad, tragic life.
“Mongol only pawn in game of life.”
That's a good point. Maybe your daughter's friends would impress you more in more difficult circumstances. Challenges bring out the best in some people - and the worst in others.
Thank you for pointing that out.
You’re welcome! I keep telling myself that my impossible Offspring will show up in a good light if the global economic collapse hits.
At least they’ll have a good reason for not taking baths ...
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