Growing up in the eighties I had one fear that overshadowed everything from my parents dying to the worst of schoolyard bullies. It was the fear of nuclear war.
I wasn't old enough to be able to do anything about it, but I was intelligent enough to understand that if NATO and the Soviet Union launched their missiles, not only would countless millions die in minutes-- those who were unlucky enough to survive would face a grim, if not hopeless, future.
There was plenty of learning material, documentaries and excerpts from popular culture that detailed what a nuclear holocaust would look like. Being cursed with a very vivid imagination, I would lie sleepless at night, listening to passenger planes over Gothenburg, wondering if they were bombers or missiles passing above, and if this time it would be the end of humanity.
One of the worst things about this was that mom and dad couldn't say "it was just a horror movie" or "it was only your imagination" because it wasn't. The threat was very real and it could have happened.
The most startling revelation for me was the fact that this documentary revealed that the nuclear standoff between the USA and Russia still isn't over. This shocked me utterly, because I had believed that the nuclear disarmament after the fall of communism had been much more complete.
They still have hydrogen bombs ready to be launched at a moments notice, and once, because of a mistake, the Russians nearly did. After the cold war was over.
"The weapons of war must be abolished, before they abolish us."
I wasn't old enough to be able to do anything about it, but I was intelligent enough to understand that if NATO and the Soviet Union launched their missiles, not only would countless millions die in minutes-- those who were unlucky enough to survive would face a grim, if not hopeless, future.
There was plenty of learning material, documentaries and excerpts from popular culture that detailed what a nuclear holocaust would look like. Being cursed with a very vivid imagination, I would lie sleepless at night, listening to passenger planes over Gothenburg, wondering if they were bombers or missiles passing above, and if this time it would be the end of humanity.
One of the worst things about this was that mom and dad couldn't say "it was just a horror movie" or "it was only your imagination" because it wasn't. The threat was very real and it could have happened.
The most startling revelation for me was the fact that this documentary revealed that the nuclear standoff between the USA and Russia still isn't over. This shocked me utterly, because I had believed that the nuclear disarmament after the fall of communism had been much more complete.
They still have hydrogen bombs ready to be launched at a moments notice, and once, because of a mistake, the Russians nearly did. After the cold war was over.
"The weapons of war must be abolished, before they abolish us."