Thank you for sharing this personal perspective, I have been trying to delve how the Boomer generation of my extended family have been more impacted than they let on or even realize by being raised by people who fought in WWII had an uncle in Korea or a cousin in Vietnam. I don't have anything to add but I wanted to give you a shout out because you've added to my toolkit for developing these thoughts.

[–] SwagliacciTheBadClown@hexbear.net 7 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Yeah I’ve done therapy where they explore generational trauma to reflect on things like anger, suppressing emotion, and being unable to connect in relationships; and it’s really shone a light on how fucked up the past was (in terms of family members dying of polio, and generally having kids for the purpose of labor) and why the fight for a better world is so important

[–] mickey@hexbear.net 5 points 2 months ago (1 children)

yea I am thinking of fewer directly participating individuals and no one laterally in my generation, compared to what you're describing, but nonetheless I immediately copped what you were talking about. Shout out to your pop-pop, that's pretty brave for him to say and it sounds like it helped you avoid making the same enlistment decisions as other kin. I really ought to look in to therapy options, or at least theory around generational trauma.

[–] SwagliacciTheBadClown@hexbear.net 3 points 2 months ago

Yeah the biggest factor was, no doubt, that I’m in the first generation that just went to college instead. But yeah i kinda assumed that side of the family were Quakers or something with how anti war they are - which is very cool and good considering the alternative