Collectibles
In 1971 I decided to forgo attachment to the material world. I don't remember what exactly triggered the decision, but I do remember rising from a pink frilly bedspread, crossing a pink rug to a small maple bookcase (against a pink wall), taking three ceramic figurines from a shelf and divesting myself of them at school the next day. Ommmm.
I'm pretty sure the idea came to me from certain books I had read which introduced me to ideas of Zen, and Buddhist thought. -- I'm talking about books like "Tales of a Japanese Grandmother," and "The Tao of Pooh." -- Kid's books. I was big into folk and fairy tales. I'm afraid the libraries on American Military bases are pretty limited as far as their selection of children's reading materials.
The constant changing of residence in my youth ( every 6 months or so during most of my college years) has helped me develop my taste for lightness and freedom from stuff, but has also left me with very little of a tangible nature from the past. I don't scrapbook, or have "good" china, or any of that kind of thing.
I do however, have a few collections, just like the civilian girls!
One of the things I collect is stories of what people were doing when Pearl Harbour was bombed. -- These are getting harder and harder to get, by the way. So far I have 5 that I can recall right now.
The first one came to me during the summer of my sophmore year in High School. I had a summer job tagging merchandise in a huge, dusty, rat-infested warehouse. An old Japanese lady, who I think might have been trying to keep me awake, told me that when she was a girl she lived in Honouliuli (a little plantation town up the road).
She and her sister were getting ready for church when they saw the planes coming over the pass. They didn't think much of this at first, because there were, and still are so many military bases all over O'ahu. The planes were flying in formation, and heading towards the open sea. "Oh, they're doing War Games," said the sister, "Let's watch!" So they decided to watch what they assumed to be USAF training manoeuvres. As the planes swept down the mountains they flew almost directly over their house, closer than they had ever flown before. So exciting! They could really see the planes right up close. The girls were surprised to see that there were suns, or the Japanese crests, painted under the wings. "Wow," said my friend, "They make these games so realistic, with mon and everything!" Then they saw what looked like rain coming from under the planes. Again they exclaimed excitedly to each other on how real it all looked.
It was only when smoke started billowing up from the harbour that they began to feel uneasy. When the sirens started, my friend ran and hid under the bed. She stayed there crying for a long time until they came and told her it was a War.
I'll tell you some more later.
I'm pretty sure the idea came to me from certain books I had read which introduced me to ideas of Zen, and Buddhist thought. -- I'm talking about books like "Tales of a Japanese Grandmother," and "The Tao of Pooh." -- Kid's books. I was big into folk and fairy tales. I'm afraid the libraries on American Military bases are pretty limited as far as their selection of children's reading materials.
The constant changing of residence in my youth ( every 6 months or so during most of my college years) has helped me develop my taste for lightness and freedom from stuff, but has also left me with very little of a tangible nature from the past. I don't scrapbook, or have "good" china, or any of that kind of thing.
I do however, have a few collections, just like the civilian girls!
One of the things I collect is stories of what people were doing when Pearl Harbour was bombed. -- These are getting harder and harder to get, by the way. So far I have 5 that I can recall right now.
The first one came to me during the summer of my sophmore year in High School. I had a summer job tagging merchandise in a huge, dusty, rat-infested warehouse. An old Japanese lady, who I think might have been trying to keep me awake, told me that when she was a girl she lived in Honouliuli (a little plantation town up the road).
She and her sister were getting ready for church when they saw the planes coming over the pass. They didn't think much of this at first, because there were, and still are so many military bases all over O'ahu. The planes were flying in formation, and heading towards the open sea. "Oh, they're doing War Games," said the sister, "Let's watch!" So they decided to watch what they assumed to be USAF training manoeuvres. As the planes swept down the mountains they flew almost directly over their house, closer than they had ever flown before. So exciting! They could really see the planes right up close. The girls were surprised to see that there were suns, or the Japanese crests, painted under the wings. "Wow," said my friend, "They make these games so realistic, with mon and everything!" Then they saw what looked like rain coming from under the planes. Again they exclaimed excitedly to each other on how real it all looked.
It was only when smoke started billowing up from the harbour that they began to feel uneasy. When the sirens started, my friend ran and hid under the bed. She stayed there crying for a long time until they came and told her it was a War.
I'll tell you some more later.
posted by zulhai | 6:45 PM
2 Comments:
5 stories? Do you just keep them in your head?
Yes. BTW, if you come across any new ones, I'd appreciate adding them in. You can only get them from people in their mid-70's now.
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