Leadership

 When I was a boy growing up in rural Arkansas, World War II had just been over five years or so. The results of it touched everyone, each day of the week in some fashion or other.

A playmate’s father couldn’t hold a job for a drinking problem brought on by his experiences in the war.

Mrs. So and So never smiled because her boy was killed in the Pacific.

Another playmate had a neat plastic model of a B-17 but knew nothing about it cause his dad wouldn’t discuss it after he brought it home.

The preacher talked about his comrades finding religion when the bombs started falling.

My aunt found out that the preacher spent the war as a cook who never left the states.

A good friend’s father died flying a fighter plane and he now had a new father.

A classmate’s father only had one arm and she was very sensitive about it.

Many of the cartoons we saw featured characters based on Hitler, Mussolini, and Tojo.

The first kid to claim a branch of service while playing war was always a Marine.

We learned that Franklin D. Roosevelt was a true hero for bringing the country through the crisis.

Just musing today: The American military deaths from the war totaled around 330,000 in four years.

America may pass that number in Covid-19 deaths in one year.

One can only wonder what the next generation of kids will talk about on the playgrounds of rural Arkansas, if there are still playgrounds there in five years.