Okinawa Felt Like Home A comment by Jeff Gessl in another thread started me thinking about our experience in Okinawa in a new way, a way I hadnt thought of before but is fairly obvious in hindsight. We were there, living off base in Kadena Circle from 63-65. Jeffs comment was a quote from his mom about how dependent families were often treated poorly by civilians. And that was true when we were kids, I hope its not true now.. In most places the civilians treated dependents and their kids like second hand trash. There were exceptions, but they were few and far between. Like most brats we changed schools at a rapid rate, and there was always that awful first month or two in a new school. Boys generally had to do some fighting to be established in the pecking order. Girls, well I really feel sorry for what they went through because a fist fight is quick and clean and over with, but the girls just got dogged forever by the prima-donnas that were permanent residents. The townies generally acted as if they were superior, and yet they were far from it. They were largely narrow minded, bigoted, untraveled, unsophisticated people. Except for the exceptions of course, but the general trend was always the same. It was as though lower class people had found someone lower class than they were and lorded it to an obnoxious degree - and yet what they couldnt see was how ignorant of the world that they were. As a result, moving into a new town/area was a usually a depressing and often bitter experience. Whatever school we were in, we were as brats, a tiny minority and often the only ones in the entire school. Then we moved to Okinawa, and it was positively different. And I do mean positively. For one thing it was the first (and only) time we went to a school that was entirely made up of other brats. No townie kids to sneering look down on us while snot ran down their own faces, no half brained dim wits to insult us or start fights just because. Instead it was instant family. We had all been through the same cycles of hellish treatment in America, we had all moved countless times and knew that each one of us would be moving again. We all had the same background. Our parents all did pretty much the same things. It was completely different from being in an American school in America. Totally, and unexpectedly different. Then there were the Okinawans. I would have expected to have been treated with loathing by them, given WWII and all. But it was the opposite, they treated us better than our own American citizens had treated us. I want to say they treated us almost with respect, but the fact is it was better than that. They treated us pretty much like we were nothing special either up or down, they were simply friendly and open. And they laughed a lot. Probably at us, but if so it didnt come across in a mean way at all. Im not sure how to describe it, but it was more of a normal kind of attitude than what we had been used to. Maybe the way to say it is that they were, or seemed to me, to be open minded about us. And that was a rarity in our lives up to then. So yeah, I can look back now and better understand why Okinawa was the best place we ever lived. We were instantly accepted and understood by the Americans there. If you saw an American kid you saw a brat just like yourself, every time, and that made a huge difference. The Okinawan people were fascinating, smart, polite, friendly, industrious, and just fun to be around. And let us not forget that it was a near pristine tropical paradise with superb beaches and local foods and a thousands of years old culture to explore and try to understand. The place was fascinating at many levels. Okinawa was a special place for dependents who had kicked around CONUS and been treated as anything other than acceptable. Okinawa was the best place ever, and thats why I guess I can never go back, you just cant go back to that feeling of welcome, that feeling of relief, the feeling of belonging somewhere at last. I am grateful every day for having lived there, I have no idea how I would have turned out otherwise, but I cant believe Id have turned out anything but worse.
Posted on: Mon, 08 Sep 2014 12:17:06 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015