I joined a Facebook group that was supposed to be about growing up in the 50s and 60s. Nostalgia. How wonderful it was to grow up in that time. And then someone had the nerve to point out that it wasn't all as fine and dandy as we liked to remember. It made me think. In truth, I spent a year or so living in fear. And I felt like I had to hide it.
So what was I afraid of? In a word, Russia. I saw Nikita Krushchev pounding his shoe on the podium at the United Nations and threatening to bury us. As a nine year old, I didn't understand that a Russian plane could not get to Ohio without being intercepted or shot down. So every time a plane flew over, I was ready to run into the house if I saw bombs falling, which of course never happened. I prayed every night that Krushchev would find Jesus and stop being mean.
I wanted to probe a little deeper into why I had what now seems an irrational fear. I wanted to explore whether I picked it up from my dad, or whether it was just being in the room when the news was on. Had I overheard adults discussing world affairs? I wanted to find the image of Krushchev pounding his shoe, because there are pictures or video of everything that ever happened.
I googled it and to my shock, the Internet now says that it didn't happen. I was only nine years old but I believe it happened. I have talked to others my age and they believe it happened. But Google says it didn't happen, that the photos were "doctored" because that was before the days of Photoshop.
So now I am torn between what I believe I saw with my own nine year old eyes or what Google says is true. If indeed it didn't happen and someone went to all that trouble to make us think it did - good job! You frightened the life out of nine year old kids. But in this case, I think I'll stay with what I know to be true, even though Google says it's not so.
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