Quote:
Originally Posted by Buccaneer
Back in the late 60s and early 70s, I heard of several families of schoolmates that lost members to the Vietnam war (though no one in my family, that I can recall). Then the recession hit, the global markets changed and my dad lost his job of 20 years ago. In the next several years, there were constant bad news in the semiconductor field and we moved around a lot. For a lot of people, those were the best years. During the 1990s, it got so bad for my parents that they ended up foreclosing and declaring bankruptcy. A lot of people wished the prosperity of the 1990s were here again. My parents do not.
I really didn't mean to sound like it did since I was making two separate points. It is true that, for me personally (I did say that), these have been the best years - BUT it had nothing to do with who's president, no more than my parents can blame Clinton (or Nixon) for their troubles.
One of the reasons it had been the best is because I was able to give more than I have ever been able to before. I have come to learn to separate myself from the politics of the federal govt and do what I can locally and within my sphere of influence. I contribute sizeable amounts to local services that help families that are hurting and are in need. I've talked to some of them, give what I can to help, esp. material and financial needs, so I can make a small difference in their lives. I am not delusional to know that it will never happen to me, as I seen with my parents and others in my family. There were people hurting 1, 5, 10, 15 years ago and there will people hurting 1, 5, 10, 15 years from now and it is our responsibility to do what we can and not expect some governmental powers do do it for you.
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During Vietnam, my little town lost a few guys and since it was a town of roughly 1000 that was felt. My sister lost a very good friend she'd dated once or twice and who'd hung out with me too a couple of times when somebody had to. Really great guy. She was pretty shook up by it and started protesting the war but not really enthusiastically.
I was too young for all that but I can remember sitting in my room, clutching my IG Joe and crying because I simply knew that this war wasn't ever going to end and one day, it'd be me that was going to die and my family would be mourning me. Didn't really stop me from playing war with Joe though ( this was pre kung foo grip in my house ).
I hear a lot of people blaming Nixon for Vietnam but even then I knew it was Kennedy and then Johnson. Nixon got us out of Vietnam and frankly, for that he has always had my utmost gratitude and his foreign policy successes have earned my utmost respect. I don't get how anyone can really doubt either of those two things even though of course, it wasn't as black and white as a paragraph here can convey, thems the facts.