I grew up in the age of duck and cover. My early school years included drills where we’d all line up and head to the school basement. A little reading into the whole nuclear war preparations thing convinced me our drills were pretty useless. You know it’s bad when a sixth grader can figure out it was all security theater.
We have come close to nuclear war. Only a select few knew how close we came until the truth came out years later. It turns out that the general public never knows. Imagine that. Governments keep secrets.
In general I worry about things I can do something about. Sure, I have some potassium iodide pills and know how to take basic precautions. We are not prime targets out here in the country. If you happen to live in a prime target area you have two options. You can move right now or do nothing. If war starts and a bomb hits your city you’ll probably never know about it.
The truth is we are probably in no more or no less danger than we’ve ever been. There’s a lot of uncertainty, but it’s an uncertainty I’ve been aware of my whole life.
-Sixbears
I've lived under the same cloud for nearly as long as you. The existential dread consumed me as a youngster but I learnt to focus on the things I could control - not events or decisions way out of my orbit. They may affect me / us but I prefer to do things where I see the impact of my efforts. Like, being ready for any eventuality.
ReplyDeleteYou do what you can to reasonably prepare for possible bad outcomes then go on with life. It's like having insurance.
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