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[–] 26 points 1 month ago (3 children)

I don't know if it's the point of this piece, but this speaks to me a little. I've found one of the most bizarre things about living through times of struggle or danger is how isolated that danger can be. There can be armed conflict happening, and a few blocks away there can be no signs of it.

I haven't lives through war, but I felt some of this during the pandemic quarantine. I lived very close to a major civil disturbance at the time, and you wouldn't even know it if you didn't go looking for it. Go the other direction and it was business as usual.

Anyone else have similar experiences?

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  • [–] 10 points 1 month ago (1 child)

    I read a piece from a guy describing his life in Germany during WW2. He said it was surreal because it wasn't like absolutely everything stopped. You still had to get up and go to work. At least right up until the end.

    He talked about being in the factory, in offices, and everyone was just going about their business and nobody spoke a word about the war. The world was on fire but you just didn't talk about it.

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  • [–] 7 points 1 month ago

    Exactly!

    Another thing I read this reminds me of was about the fall of Rome. It was a piece by a historian and they said for people on the outskirts of the empire, the way they experienced the fall of Rome was that no one came to fix the bridge one day. In other words, the collapse was not some far reaching destructive force. It was felt most intensely in the major government centers.

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