I also fell for the line when I was very, very young. But by the time I became a teacher (in my forties), I knew better. I was a social studies teacher, and would start each semester with this warning to my students: Don't believe what you read, don't believe me. Even if I think I'm telling the truth, I could be wrong. Then I would bring in newspapers of the day and show them the different headlines and pictures on the front pages. They could see how the editorializing began even before a word was written, merely by what 'news' appeared on the front page, and where it was placed.

Sorry about that military service. My husband did 13 months in Vietnam (conscripted). A sobering dose of reality. He said, when my son was born, that his son would never fight in any war.