Today, the children and I attended a field trip. We were educated on various wars fought by the United States, techniques used, as well as weapons and machinery used. Throughout the day, several things caught my eye that made me realize my age as well as the differences in today's youth compared to my own childhood.
First, many of the children at the event had no respect for the items on display. Regardless of age, value, or any other factor, children would just walk up and start grabbing stuff. They would climb over equipment and act as if the items were there simply for their pleasure. Rarely did I hear a child ask permission to touch an item before doing so. Only once did I hear someone (a soldier) instruct any of these children about asking before grabbing. I thought back to when I was in school (this event was open to all public, private and home schools). When we would tour a facility on a field trip, we knew not to touch anything. Even the labeled trouble makers wouldn't touch items that didn't belong to them. Instead, they'd stroll around, with their hands in their pockets acting as if they weren't the least bit interested (though once permission was granted to touch, you could see how much they really wanted to).
The second thing I noticed regarding the generation gap went a bit hand in hand with the first thing. While standing at a table, two middle school aged girls walked up. The each picked up one of the cameras on display and asked each other, “What's this?” They were each collectibles, worth a bit more then the children could have imagined. The girls looked over the cameras, turning them this way and that. Finally one of the girls lifted the camera up to her face and peered through the small square hole at the top. I couldn't help but giggle when the solider, after telling them they should ask permission to touch other people's belongings, then said, “Besides which, it's a camera and you were looking through it backward!” In a world of digital cameras built into phones, it seems children today don't even know what film or the cameras we were raised on are.
Then, as I walked up to a display I heard a voice that sounded so much like a voice out of the old spy movies I used to watch as a child. I looked up and sitting behind the display table, with a uniformed officer, was a woman speaking with a thick and strong Russian accent. I couldn't help but think of my own childhood and how this is a scene that I would have never witnessed at that time. Would any of the children present recognize that accent or the prominent man that we all recognized by the port wine stain on his forehead? Would any of the children present watch a video of “The Day the Wall Came Down” and understand our tears of joy?
There were several things throughout the day that reminded me of the generation gap between myself and the children present. Yet, I was totally unprepared for the generation gap I was next to be enlightened of. For, it wasn't the generation gap that existed between myself and these children...........but rather myself and that of a soldier.
We began by discussing Marine Cpl. Dakota Meyer and his having been awarded the Medal of Honor yesterday. I had heard it on the radio this morning, and told the children that by disobeying, he had faced a court martial if his attempt had failed. However, he was successful in his attempts, as successful as he could be, and was awarded as such. The soldier I spoke to told me that he had watched an interview with Cpl. Meyer and that when asked, “Why? Why did you go back to save them?” he answered that he didn't think he was going to make it out alive. He thought he was going to die with his brothers.
Then, the soldier I was talking to begin to talk about his life. Places he'd been, things he'd survived. He's been blown up, shot to pieces, and beaten in a foreign prison. He recounted how, in the 70s, he and his group went into an area. I can't remember the exact number, but believe it was somewhere between 200-300....only 30 some made it out alive. He said that people will talk about how soldiers are fighting for America and for freedom, but that when you look over and your buddy is lying beside you with a gaping hole in his chest, that's when you become aware of what you're really fighting for. After surviving this experience, he was captured and tortured. He said they beat on him “pretty good” while imprisoned and though he didn't elaborate, you could tell that it was brutal from the look in his eye as he said it. He explained how other American prisoners nearby were being killed, and how “they” came and took all the Canadians out of the prison. The next day, there were three American soldier prisoners left, he was one of them. He remembers how they were led out, told to lie down in the back of a truck, and covered over. He knew that this was the end, they were taking him to his death. He said he knew that he was going to die. He said that when the truck stopped, they were led out and he saw, sitting there in front of him, an American C??? plane. He and his two buddies had been smuggled out. They boarded the plane and had to ride in the bottom. He still remembers how cold it was, so terribly cold. When the plane landed in Tampa, Florida and the back let down, he said the heat curled up into the plane and hit him....he passed out. He woke up later on the way to a hotel. He was 21 years old.
He looked at me and said, “People talk all about America. They say it's about the flag, apple pie, and all that good stuff. For me, America is about that pilot I saw standing by that plane that day I was smuggled out. I remember how his face was all pockmarked and young looking. That's what America is about for me.”
No comments:
Post a Comment