Tammi's World

Full Circle

I was reading Lex's post from last night and it really got me thinking.

I had a bit of a flashback.. Back to 1979/80 my senior year in High School. I remember sitting in the locker room after basketball practice and hearing one of the girls say she heard if Reagan won the election there was going to be a draft. And this time they would include women. Everyone froze. Girls started saying they'd just go to Canada, another girl said she'd just get pregnant and that way both she and her boyfriend would be safe.

I watched while everyone worked themselves into a lather. The draft had ended in '73 so it was still a raw subject. For some reason I didn't believe what the rumor said. It just didn't make sense to me. I knew, from watching the news and reading what was available at the time, that Reagan believed that a strong military was important. As I understood things it was an investment in our future. I knew he wanted to develop better weapons, and make life in the military better than what it was - to make it a better choice to join. But I hadn't heard anything about the draft coming back. I sat there, while everyone around me hissed and screached in anger and fear. It was like nothing I had ever seen. Panic was tangable in that locker room.

Back in those days I didn't have near the confidence that I have now. I ran with the very smartest in our class and just didn't feel that what ever I thought would add anything to the conversation, and I was afraid of being laughed at when I was being serious. But I just couldn't let this go. It just seemed too important. So I stood up and asked where they heard this. The girl that brought the subject up said her Dad mentioned it at the dinner table the night before. They were talking about how this was the first election most of us would be able to vote in and that it was very important to vote for the right person. He told her that Reagan wanted to go to war and that starting the draft was the only way. And her Dad would know, he was a professor at Notre Dame.

I stood there for a moment and thought about that. Then I just simply said "Your Dad's wrong" and walked away. They were yelling at me and telling me how stupid I was, what did I know anyway but I just kept walking. I didn't argue with them, I didn't have any facts or figures to throw in the face of the arguments - I just knew in my gut they were wrong.

Back then we didn't have email or the internet. We had the MSM and word of mouth. Rumors were more deadly then, harder to disprove. Looking back, it feels like a lifetime ago.

Now....back to the present. Again, we hear rumors about the "Republican war mongers" wanting to reinstate the draft. Of course we know that isn't true, and now - with the information age - we can fight that rumor more readily. But it still amazes me that 24 years later the same scare tactics are being used. Our children, those young impressionable minds, are being told that they will have no choice but to fight. And it is coming from those that they trust. Remember with me for just a moment. Think back to when you were 17/18. Remember how you were fighting for your own voice? Caught between child and grown-up. Wanting a say, but still forming those opinions? Not many teenagers really pay attention to politics, until it becomes a big issue - like a Presidential Election. Be honest, many adults don't pay attention. But then everyone is talking about it, everyone has an opinion. So we do to. Scary isn't it. I'd like to think that our government and our security is something that every American finds important enough to focus on regularly. But that's not the case.

The youth of this country are being made in to pawns. And it just makes me sick that some people are using that desire that is in them to contribute to the process, that need to have a say - and twisting it with fear. It's wrong, and it puts our children at risk. But it's not the first time it's happened, and I'm afraid it won't be the last. It's up to us - all of us - to talk with them, to encourage them to search out the FACTS and THEN make up their minds. They may not agree with us, and that's alright. What's important is that they make solid decisions based on facts and knowledge not fear and rumors.

Posted by Tammi at October 13, 2004 07:26 AM