“May have been the losing side. Still not convinced it was the wrong one.”


"This report is maybe 12-years-old. Parliament buried it, and it stayed buried till River dug it up. This is what they feared she knew. And they were right to fear because there's a whole universe of folk who are gonna know it, too. They're gonna see it. Somebody has to speak for these people. You all got on this boat for different reasons, but you all come to the same place. So now I'm asking more of you than I have before. Maybe all. Sure as I know anything I know this, they will try again. Maybe on another world, maybe on this very ground swept clean. A year from now, 10, they'll swing back to the belief that they can make people . . . better. And I do not hold to that. So no more running. I aim to misbehave." ~ Captain Malcom Reynolds

Sunday, December 25, 2016

History to Ponder

For those of you who are in the "Millenial" generation, you truly have no understanding of what it was like to grow up under the shadow of the Cold War. Between the threat of nuclear annihilation and mutually assured destruction, the posturing and rhetoric of proxy wars and political grandstanding, and the "us versus them" mentality which divided the world into two camps, the period of 1945 to 1990 shaped those who experienced it. I don't mention this as a "You kids don't know how good you have it," moment; rather it's a reflection on a time period and how it affected the world to this day.

I also won't take this as an opportunity to look at current parallels and trends, though that is also something worth considering...

But, keep in mind that up until the sudden fall of the Soviet Union and Warsaw Pact, numerous small things could have changed hisotry at any point. This article has an interesting discussion regarding some of these points in time.

Worth reading and considering how delicate the balance of history is for us all. Even when we don't realize it at the time.


3 comments:

Old NFO said...

Yep, things 'could' have changed radically in the 1970s... Red Dawn came 'close' to being real. And I chased that Oscar at the top of the article. Even caught her once! :-)

Captain Tightpants said...

Yeah, I remember when "Soviet Naval Vessels" and other unit information was part of my promotion examination study material...

Old NFO said...

Yep, that was a while ago...