WAR HUH, WHAT IS IT GOOD FOR?

Jodes is bugging me for a new post, and I really haven't given it much thought. Today was sort of a somber day around blogdom. No HNT due to the death of a fellow blogger. And that in itself hung a dark cloud, that won't soon go away...R.I.P. Betcha

But the one constant is that life goes on, somber or not. Life is for the living, and when we are gone all that is left is memories. Good or bad? Thats up to us.

.......I always wanted to be teacher. That was my childhood ambition. And I'm sure that I would have been a decent educator. But I was a victim of circumstance! (sorry Crab)
The Gulf of Tonkin incident that precipitated the Viet Nam War occured in 1964, each year those of us teen-age males kept hoped that the war would end soon, but it didn't. It kept dragging on and on and on. More and more of our childhood friends kept comming home in body bags. And the war kept on and on and on. To get out of the military, you could do several things, you could become gay, you could go to college and maintain a 2.0 gpa, or you could get a job vital to the upkeep and maintenance of the country.
Since those were times that even gay men married for appearance sake, college was the best bet. Back then jobs were easy to get, if you really wanted to work. But the jobs that kept you out of Nam were scarce, except one.....teaching!
So year after year, starting in about 1966 on, the college enrollement soared. Each year as the graduating classes got bigger, more and more grads looked to extend their military deferment any way they could. Since there was a limited amount of openings for cops and firemen, they looked to the most logical choice....teaching!
So almost overnight teaching became the hottest job in town. What was once a profession that begged grads to enter, suddenly had their ranks swell to huge proportions. Then like everything else, after putting several years in and gaining tenure, you would be crazy to quit. So in the 70's it was quite difficult to get into teaching. All the positions were taken by people that wanted to avoid the draft, and not really want to teach.....Of course that is a gross generalization, and doesn't apply to all teachers. The women were not draft dodgers, and some men really loved what they did, but it was so hard to get into, it discouraged the many future Mr. Chips of the world........pity!.....That lousy war destroyed more than lives, it destroyed the dreams of many young men.....Just like that lousy war that is going on now! When will they ever learn? When will they ever learn?..........G-Man