How do I tell my son that they were the ones who shot his dad?

nimblewalker58 said:History matters; it's what makes you part of a people, a nation.

The people who don't care about that stuff are just globalists or lost souls caught up in this whole consumerist, capitalist mess.

I wish we could go back to quoting that old letter about how people are forgetting who they actually are...

Of course it matters; but it isn't something stamped on you at birth. A collective identity like ours? We’re going to forget it—we’ve been losing it since the days of forced unity.

You have to learn history and question it. It isn't just something handed down because of whatever patch of dirt your parents happened to be born on.

It’s not like I forgot who I am; and honestly, I don't want my kid to be stuck suffering through all the struggles of America, either. That's asking way too much from the next generation.

Jose Chase2 said:It’s honestly disgusting that after everything we went through, someone can even say something like this.🙂

Man, you really don't get it, do you?🙂

Whatever, I guess luck is on your side.😲

What do you mean "went through"? You probably mean "happened" happened ☕

And hey, why stop there? Let's just hang all that history around our kids' necks since they clearly want to be accomplices anyway.

Hannah Davis18 said:It’s hard to believe I’ve forgotten who I am—and honestly, I don't want my child to be stuck carrying the weight of our struggles here; that's just too much to ask from the generations coming after us.

If only Stjepan Radić knew how right he was when he said we shouldn't charge blindly into the fog like geese.🙏🙏🙏

Jose Chase2 said:nah, right—they're all those enlightened Europeans, while we people who actually care about stuff like this are just some primitive, smelly North American losers

could be; I guess I was just raised with a different mindset; and no, it wasn't America, lol.😛

Hannah Davis18 said:Of course identity matters, but it isn't something etched into us at birth; we have a tendency to discard collective identities like this, a habit left over from much older eras of forced unity.

History is something one studies and questions; it isn't simply a fate dictated by whatever geographic borders happen to surround your birthplace.

I find it difficult to forget who I am, yet I certainly have no desire to burden my child with being a fellow traveler through the struggles of America; that is far too much to demand from the generations following us.

If they choose to live in America, your child will inevitably share in both the hardships and the triumphs of the American people. There is no avoiding that reality.
To give you an example, if they live in America, they likely won't experience the same standard of living found in a country like the United States.

Jose Chase2 said:Man, if only Stjepan Radić could see us now. He was so right when he said we shouldn't just charge blindly into the fog like idiots.🙏🙏🙏

So, is everyone here just totally clueless, or did they just not listen to a single word he said?

Jose Chase2 is spot on here—they’re stripping away the word "community" and replacing it with "pack."

I mean, look, any individual can choose to hide where they come from if they feel like it, or even try to reinvent themselves under a different flag, but honestly? That isn't exactly the kind of legacy I'd want to pass down to my kids.

If you were ten years older back then, would you still be so eager to have escaped California as quickly as you did?

I can't shake this growing feeling that we didn't just lose lives in the war, but we lost the very foundation of how an entire generation was raised.

Hannah Davis18 said:how do you think it happened? I guess it just happened ☕

yeah right—let's fix that, shall we?🙄

Don't tell me how to spell "yeah right"—as if writing it in American makes any sense.

I'm just posting here to mess around—not really feeling the urge to worry about perfect grammar or literary standards. 🙄

Olivia Nguyen4 said:If they’re gonna live in America, your kid is basically tied to everything this country goes through, good or bad. There's just no avoiding it.
I mean, just looking at an example—if they grow up here, they probably won't ever have a lifestyle like what you'd see at, say, ExxonMobil.

obviously not; I'm not looking for that.
it's like how I'm not some sidekick; I'm just a loyal citizen paying my taxes.

Hannah Davis18 said:well, how lucky they are...😲

How exactly do you think this happened? Surely it was bound tooccur ☕

And even better, let’s just hang the weight of history around our children's necks, since they seem so eager to be accomplices.

History is life's greatest teacher!

History repeats itself!

The weight will hang itself; there is nothing you can do to prevent it. The only real question is how we prepare them for what's coming.

Hannah Davis18 said:So, was the whole group just being clueless, or did they simply not catch what he was saying?

Come on—could you maybe rephrase that so it actually makes sense?🙂

Hannah Davis18 said:Of course it matters; but it isn't something you're just stamped with at birth. A collective like ours? We’ve been trying to forget that kind of thing since the old days of forced unity.

History is something you study and question. It isn't just some destiny handed down because of where your mother happened to give birth.

It's hard for me to have forgotten who I am; and frankly, I don't want my kid to be stuck wallowing in American struggles either; that’s asking way too much of the next generation.

Don't worry, the kid will find things even worse than patriotism or nationalism. For starters, apathy.

Jose Chase2 said:man, please just write a sentence that actually makes sense🙂

aaa; my bad, i didn't mean twice.
anyway, you'll get it eventually.

frozentinker432👎—don't even bother mentioning patriotism to them. They just end up mocking the whole concept.

To them, patriotism is something negative.

frozentinker432 said:don't sweat it, the kid will probably end up dealing with stuff even worse than patriotism or nationalism. like, total apathy, maybe.

yeah, well, nothing beats suffering, I guess. seriously.

😍

let them just be happy and carefree, totally detached from all those "-isms."

Hannah Davis18 said:ah, my bad—definitely wasn't twice.
anyway, you'll figure it out eventually.

see? I had a total fail once too 🙂

Olivia Nguyen4 said:History is life's greatest teacher!

History just keeps repeating itself.

The noose is gonna hang itself, I guess. There’s nothing you can really do about it. It’s just a matter of how we get them ready for it.

Look, if it was just gonna happen on its own, you wouldn't even have started this thread. You're out here explaining everything and posting all this stuff... at least at first.

Hannah Davis18 said:Let’s just stay positive and happy about being vaccinated against all those various "-isms."

So, to wrap this up—is patriotism something negative to you?

frozentinker432 said:their history belongs to all of us in America. It’s part of my parents, my kids, and their kids too. I haven't sat there watching a best friend pass away right next to me, but just knowing your husband—and so many others—went through that... it hurts. It really does. It’s what triggered that reaction a few pages back. I don't know, maybe it's just because it's my people, and that makes me who I am. It's in my blood. Their suffering feels like my own, and I honestly don't get why that's so hard for some people to grasp. Does it even matter if I'm seventeen? Honestly, I don't feel seventeen; I feel like I'm a thousand and seventeen years old. My people's history was etched into me the moment I was born, and I can't—I won't—ever let go of it. I don't want to.

Sorry if I'm being a bit pathetic this time around.

I think we just "misunderstood" each other from the very start. I wasn't trying to judge you for your age, (that bit in my previous post was just a joke based on what Salvador wrote, since I'm basically an old lady😬 ). I don't believe for a second that you don't have the right to feel, debate, or see things differently. I only brought up your age because I feel like a young person's life should be free from certain ugly things—things that the older generation unfortunately had to endure and will carry forever. No one is telling you to just "get over" your history; that's impossible anyway. We need to know our history, exactly as it happened. We have to honor the struggle and the pain our loved ones went through, but we also have to hope and work toward making sure it never happens again. We have to prevent history from repeating itself.
When I was five, ten, or seventeen, I had my own dreams and I lived them fully. That’s all I want for my child, too. That's where my perspective comes from.

I honestly don't get it—how can anyone claim their people's struggles aren't their own business?

I really wonder how Hannah Davis18 would feel if all our veterans had taken that exact same attitude back in the early 90s and just fled the country.🙄

It’s a shame for kids when they aren't taught any sense of national pride or patriotism. I mean, if we don't love our own nation and our homeland, who will?

If everyone thought like Hannah Davis18, we'd be living in a place like Mexico right now.🙂