July 25th, 1978: On the ever present threat of War.

I was reading A Place To Stand today, about Americans living in Hungary at the time of the German takeover, and about the bombing of Budapest.  I was reminded of my kindergarten days.  We lived in San Antonio, in the midst of three military bases.  Dad brought home gas masks for all of us and we used to have bomb drills in the kindergarten.  We all had to hide under our desks in case the windows were broken and I remember playing in the Yard beside our windows and hearing a voice break in the middle of the music on the radio to say "we are at war".

I remember Madame Chiang Kai-shek's speeches to, and standing on a foot stool trying to emulate her.  I recall praying for my Uncle Eliot, who was in the Navy, every night.  

In San Francisco, when I taught there, we had nuclear attack drills.  At first, they tried to plan for some of the children to go home, but they finally had to concede that that much advance warning was unlikely.  I had a class of gifted children and when we had a drill they refused to go.  They said "If we're going to die anyway, we'd rather be doing our lessons."

During the Cuban crisis, one of the papers had big headlines "War with Cuba", and the children were sure we'd go to war.  And, of course, there was Vietnam.  A lot of the Navy ships left from Treasure Island in the  Bay.  

When I lived in Omaha, we were certain of being bombed because of the JAC missile sites there.  

Ontario, Oregon seems a long way from war and rumors of war.  I hope Petey can have the peaceful childhood I was denied here-and will learn to tie his shoelaces, not how to duck under a desk in kindergarten.