Well written (again) and thank you. I remember getting in trouble with family & school for being a pacifist sparked by the mess on Vietnam. Activist is my new dream job.
Many thanks for this, Cheryl - and yes, if I'd lived back then where I do now I'd have had a real risk of being dragged into "the mess in Vietnam". Australia wasn't as intensely engaged in that mess as the US was, but per capita it still had a significant casualty-rate there - on both sides, of course.
My parents were both Quakers, and hence quiet pacifists too, but I didn't pick up on that until I left school: the 'military ardour' was not only everywhere around in the culture back then, but it was actually a mandatory requirement at school, there was no way to escape it. There's also the sad bleak fact that there are 10% of the countries in the world that my native nation has _not_ invaded at some point in its history. :wry-grin:
"Activist is my new dream job" - agreed. I do what I can, just more in the background, though. It's hard to be a visible activist when I'm not exactly active anyway... :also-wry-grin:
Well written (again) and thank you. I remember getting in trouble with family & school for being a pacifist sparked by the mess on Vietnam. Activist is my new dream job.
Many thanks for this, Cheryl - and yes, if I'd lived back then where I do now I'd have had a real risk of being dragged into "the mess in Vietnam". Australia wasn't as intensely engaged in that mess as the US was, but per capita it still had a significant casualty-rate there - on both sides, of course.
My parents were both Quakers, and hence quiet pacifists too, but I didn't pick up on that until I left school: the 'military ardour' was not only everywhere around in the culture back then, but it was actually a mandatory requirement at school, there was no way to escape it. There's also the sad bleak fact that there are 10% of the countries in the world that my native nation has _not_ invaded at some point in its history. :wry-grin:
"Activist is my new dream job" - agreed. I do what I can, just more in the background, though. It's hard to be a visible activist when I'm not exactly active anyway... :also-wry-grin: