My kids have never seen me as upset as my parents were about the Cuban Missile Crisis.
I expect that people must have been many who were fairly upset at the time. Even up here, the government installed sirens on poles around the city where my family lived. However, they were considered to be something of a joke as few people could hear them during the community drills. As a kid, I think we were picking up more from the school drills -- as children trying to make some sense out of what exactly we were supposed to be afraid of.
At the moment, I suspect that the kids who would be feeling the greatest effects of the "war on terror" would be those with family members in Iraq, or who are related in some way to those who have been killed or injured there. From what I've read, some communities have a significant percentage of the population either in Iraq, or likely to be sent off sometime soon. However, I gather that it's the families of reserves -- those not living within the more closely-knit military communities -- who are having the most difficult time in coping as they don't have an established network of people to help them to deal with their fears, etc... I expect it's hard on everyone regardless of their situation.
It seem to me that some people lose sight of the peripheral effect that occurs in families who are, in some way, effected by wars, disasters, etc... My mother grew up in a family with 4 of her brothers in the navy and army during WWII. She said that her mother used to stay up almost all night pacing back and forth in the kitchen at certain times during the war when she knew her sons were in war zones, etc... Also, she's told me how frightened people used to be if they caught sight of the telegram messenger coming down the street. I think this kind of fear had a serious and lasting effect on the entire family -- my uncles, for the many terrible things they saw when they were overseas, and the remainder of the family who had to deal with a constant state of fear throughout much of the war.
Also interesting that, in addition to the normal fears of war, during WWII, my parents remember other things that made them feel nervous. My mother's family lived along the St. Lawrence River and people were constantly warned to be on the look-out for "strangers" and for submarines coming inland. Even the children were enlisted in various activities such as collecting milkweed fluff (kapok) for life-preservers, and milkweed pods for their rubber for something else. Also to collect coat-hangers and other bits of metal and foil for army use. And then there was the food rationing. In Boy Scouts, the boys practiced memorizing airplane silhouettes for spotting enemy aircraft. All in all, I think there was a feeling that the war was always with you regardless of where you were. |
