Reenacting Nightmares

ALTHOUGH I DIDN"T REALIZE IT THEN, I grew up in the shadow of World War II. The period between 1945 and 1970, all factors considered, was the most economically prosperous time in American history, and we baby boomers were raised spoiled. Our parents were determened that we would never experiences the nightmares they had. So, we experienced our own nightmares, sometimes by inventing them. In the late fortties, throughout the sixties, and into the early seventies, American white kids, when they gathered together in groups of two or more, either played Cowboys and Indians, cops and robber, or Krauts and Americans. sometimes, whiffle ball. We knew about the war; our parets made enough references to it that it was obvious they had lived through somethng very impactful. We reenacted it daily, using plastic guns, helmets, and bullets, often cap guns which made a great noise, and when we faked our deaths, we collapsed melodramatically, after staggering around the yard for what seemed like hours. We were imitating real life from television and movies, which in those days were full of cowboys, Indians, and krauts. Fortunatelty, we recovered quickly, popped right back up, ready to fight, and die again.If it worked like that in real life, people would probably take no better advantage of instant reincarnation than we did.They would probably choose instead to fight, kill, and die over and over again, like we did. Then we grew up and entered high school, and the world became more politically correct. Pop guns were replaced by paint guns and cell phones. Unless I am seriously out of touch, kids simply do not pretend to be cowboys and indians, cops and robbers, or krauts and good guys anymore, at least not in real space and real time. Video games have taken the place of play acting, for better or worse. We also, when we were ten and eleven years old, ran around the neighborhood with BB gunas, shooting at anything that moved and most things that did not; it is hard to believe we actually did that, but we did, and if they tried it today, they'd be in big trouble, and their parents would be in jail for child abuse and neglect. In high school, in the early seventies, I was still interested in World War II, in fact, more than ever, before or since. I probably knew more about the war in high school than I ever have since, snce I read all the major books and saw all the major movies. Presumably, scholarship about the War, including the military history, has improved and evolved in recent dedades, just like every other period of history ; I can only assume this, but will never find out for myself; I have l since had enough of World War Two, including reading about it. the last movie I saw on the subject was "Saving Private Ryan", and that was quite enough. The one thing I never thought I nor anyone else would ever see again is a major land war in Europe, thank you Mr. Putin. During the seemingly interminable buildup of Russian forces at the border of Ukraine, I kept thinking: "surely this is all a big military exercise of bluff." Boy, was I ever wrong. The extent to which this war reminds me of World War Two is startling, even with the advancement of technology, especially drones. The mass infantry and mass casualties, and the constant artillary bombardments would do justice to either World War One or Two.I always figured that war in Europe in the future would be fought with either atomic bombs or computers, but not old fashioned infantry and artillary. Before its all over, the totla ead may number more than one million, a nightmare beyond anyting I had imagined. I should comfor myself that atom bombs aren't dropping on every major city in Eropeand North America, with hundreds of millios of people dead and radiated, like all the scare movies of the post World War Two cold war era depicted. Nightmarishly, all that is still very much within the realm of possibility. By comparison, BB guns and cops and robbers begins to seem mighty tame.