Comforting thought
New York, NY, November 2009
It's been a quiet few days here at Written Inc. thanks to a crazy little bug that flattened me midweek and kept me there until the weekend. I'm not back to my usual self, but at least I'm somewhat vertical again. So it's back to the keyboard I go.
I remember seeing this sign (see here for our latest Thematic theme - surprise, it's signs) and thinking how outdated it all seemed. Didn't we end the Cold War decades ago? Would our kids even understand what this meant if they came across it?
Then I remembered where I was; in a place where the dust from the fallen towers had not long ago blanketed these very streets, and where a war of sorts had presented itself right in the heart of this city. The source and type of threat had changed over the generations, but I guess we'll always want to know that shelter is never really that far away.
Your turn: What's it like in one of those shelters? Let's imagine, shall we?
I remember being with my grandparents and visiting someone they knew who had a shelter in their backyard. I thought it was great--they had kids and we played in it and it was cool there, compared to the heat of a summer day down South. When I asked why we didn't have one, I found out my family was from the "'let's hope the first strike gets you' philosophy, cause you ain't going to want to be around afterwards..." That really wasn't reassuring!
ReplyDeleteI think fallout shelters are very few and far between in New Zealand - I suppose everyone here thought it was too far away to be bothered.
ReplyDeleteI haven't posted a "signs" photo yet, but there is one in my new blog header which just seemed to suit the blog title!
One of the shelters in my hometown was in the basement of the high school. A bunch of us students found boxes of crackers (that were older than we were) when we were sorting through costumes for a play.
ReplyDeleteAnd then there was my dad's approach. Instead of storing the however-many-gallons of water in the basement at home, he decided to store wine instead and started a wine cellar.