I believed until I found a receipt--no one in my family gave me the gift on the receipt. The next morning "Santa" gave me what was... [show more]

I believed until I found a receipt--no one in my family gave me the gift on the receipt. The next morning "Santa" gave me what was the receipt. Santa didn't buy stuff--elves made stuff, but parents need receipts. So if there was a receipt for a "Santa" given present ... you see where I'm going. Crushing, it was. [show less]

I was young and impressionable and did pretty much whatever my parents told me. Then I started thinking for myself. Written as... [show more]

I was young and impressionable and did pretty much whatever my parents told me. Then I started thinking for myself.

Written as "Judeo-Christian-Islamo-Mormon god" because they all have the same god. [show less]

There is none.

In my early 20s I had a very simplistic view -- that from the generals to the privates, the military consisted of sadistic thugs l... [show more]

In my early 20s I had a very simplistic view -- that from the generals to the privates, the military consisted of sadistic thugs looking for excuses to kill and maim.

While it might be true that some psychopaths are attracted to combat duty, I no longer believe that killing people is the primary attractant for young recruits. In fact I think a lot of recruits are attracted for the cliche reasons -- to serve and save people.

And, I now better appreciate the role of the military -- I am glad to spend some tax dollars to train young men and women to become very good at shooting people and blowing things up.

(To make sure I'm not misunderstood: I would support a huge cutback in military budget and think the military has been overused and misused consistently for 50 years, too.) [show less]

My trust was in my country, and my trust was altruistic. I didn't learn what I should have from the history of the US and Vietnam.