Reply #1: Mine began in 1961 [View All]

which was the year I discovered Bertrand Russell. I'd discovered Marx two years earlier, found it nourishing but his prescriptions for Utopia those of a fantasist.

My junior high science class was on a field trip to the state university to visit their planetarium. We were allowed to sit on the quad and eat our lunchtime sandwiches. An Asian university student was close, and I asked her where she came from. She replied Vietnam. I said "Look, I'm a kid, and I've never seen you before, I don't know your name, I live in (city) and I'll never see you again, so you can tell me the truth. What do people in Vietnam really want from the US?"

She replied "To go home and let us run our own country."

At that point I began my descent into the underworld of understanding just how propagandized the major media were, that we were all lied to about Vietnam, that the war was not a winnable one, and that we didn't belong there.

I started joining the Quakers for their silent vigil the next week. I've always been deeply grateful to that student for telling a kid her truth. She was right.