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Woodrow
01-18-2010, 06:57 AM
this thread is the result of a PM I recently got. It was suggested I should start a thread and discuss changes I have seen over the past 70 years. A little thinking and I realized how much the world has changed. Just looking around I notice that nearly 90% of the items I own, did not exist when I as born. Life was different. America was not yet considered a major world power, the UK had the largest Navy, Germany had the most powerful ground Army. The US was at peace with Russia. America was an Agrarian nation and the majority of Americans lived on farms. Like most Americans of the time I was born on a farm. The USA was essentially a bankrupt nation just coming out of the depression.

From 1940-1945 what I never saw:

Indoor plumbing
Electricity
Telephone
Television
Gas stoves
Gasoline Chain saw
Swimming pools
Jet planes

Some of our greatest fears were disease smallpox was still common, We all had friends or relatives that had either died from polio or were paralyzed by it. The US flag only had 48 stars, There was no Pakistan or Israel on the maps. India was a British commonwealth. There were no satellites, cars did not have power brakes, power steering, electric windows, air conditioning, electric windshield wipers, and burned leaded gas.

Franklin D. Roosevelt was president. Segregation was the law in most states, in most of the states it was illegal for a non-white person to go to a white school, eat in a white restaurant, use a white public bathroom or even drink from a white public water fountain. In many cities it was illegal for a non-white person to be in the city after sunset or before day break. This segregation extended beyond color in many areas and included Irish, Catholics, Jews, and Mormons. Human Rights laws were still 25 years in the future.

I'll pause here for any comments and come back later covering the WW2 years 1942-1945
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جوري
01-18-2010, 06:59 AM
if you are 70 akhi (may Allah swt grant you excellent health and a great life) you couldn't have been more than a few months old when WWII broke out.. how will you tell this story? :lol:

:w:
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zakirs
01-18-2010, 07:01 AM
Very interesting Woodrow uncle :D .. ill wait for the rest
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Woodrow
01-18-2010, 07:47 AM
format_quote Originally Posted by Gossamer skye
if you are 70 akhi (may Allah swt grant you excellent health and a great life) you couldn't have been more than a few months old when WWII broke out.. how will you tell this story? :lol:

:w:
I was 2 years 5 months and 2 days old when Pearl Harbor was Bombed. For some reason I can still remember the radio broadcast. But maybe because it was replayed frequently for the next 3 years.

what I remember most will be what I did not have. Nearly everybody I knew including my father were immediately drafted into the Army. almost every male between the ages of 18-35 was drafted, Most of us kids spent a child hood with out a father or uncles. also the rationing hit us hard, even living on a farm we had some difficulty as some of the items you could not buy or were limited to very small quantities were sugar, meats, butter. What affected me most is we did not have any candy except on extremely rare occasions. I was probably 5 years old before I had my first candy bar or store bought toy.

Most of us started grade school in June 1945 without a father, many of us had fathers that never returned after the end of the war in Nov. of 1945

So to continue what I and many others did not have during WW2

A father
Toys
Uncles
Candy
No more than one meal a day and some days less

Of course a lot of things were still a long way off from being invented or affordable for home use such as

Microwave ovens
pop-up toasters
Air conditioning
Central heating
Television
computers
almost everything made from plastic
Telephones were still scarce and anybody that had one was on a party line.

Our entertainment was Radio, on Sunday it was Sunday comics read to us on the radio by "Uncle Don" Perhaps once every other month Saturday morning at a movie theater. Cost for us under 12 years old was 12 cents and that included the movie, popcorn and a soft drink.

In the summer of 1945 I started my first job at a dairy farm owned by Edgar Seymour. I started at 5 am milked the cows, let them out to pasture and then shoveled out the barn and put feed and water in the stanchion feeders and water bucket. My day ended at 4 pm when the cows came in from pasture. Most kids my age had started farm work shortly after turning 5. Our pay was usually 5 cents per day I was getting 25 Cents a week for a 7 day week.
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Zico
01-18-2010, 09:31 AM
Amazing Mashalla!

More please...
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Woodrow
01-18-2010, 03:30 PM
1945-1950

In late summer about the 3 rd week in August of 1945 we moved to the "Big City" New Britain Connecticut. I as still waiting for my father to come home from the Army and was worried he would not find us. But there were many things I saw for the first time. We had an indoor toilet, Electric lights, a kerosene stove. Our own radio, I got to listen to "Uncle Don" reading the comics on Sunday mornings. But other changes came I started school. It was a long walk about a mile. The first few days my mother walked me to School, about the first 3 days I escaped from school during recess and ran home. After about the 3rd or 4th spanking I decided it was better to spend the day in school. But some changes came. I could not speak Lithuanian at school and was only permitted to speak English. My mother forbade me to speak Lithuanian at home. I had to speak English even at home, although my mother spoke very limited broken English.

The war in Japan had ended I recall hearing on the radio before we moved that Roosevelt had died and Truman was president. when I started school the talk we heard most often was Truman had dropped the Atomic Bomb on Japan and the war in the Pacific had ended and "Our Boys" in the Pacific would soon be coming home.

Us kids did a lot of guess work as to what the Atomic bomb looked like. One cereal brand had an atomic bomb ring in each box. It was a metal adjustable ring with a bomb where a stone would be you pulled the fins of the bomb and held it up to your eye and you saw flashes of light that were supposed to be atomic explosions. I doubt if many of those rings survived. Us kids would set them on the side walk and wallop them with a hammer to see if we could make the bomb explode.

Many changes came those first months of she 1945-1946 school year. I remember the celebrations of VE day when the war with Germany ended. The air raid sirens blew all day long the factories in New Britain had the factory whistles blowing all day, people were running all over the streets and strangers were grabbing and hugging strangers people were all over the streets laughing and crying at the same time.

At the same time new children were coming into the schools, they were called DP's and they did not speak English. The school classes were divided into 3 groups Group 1 the high group, Group 2 the low group and Group 3 the DPs I was placed with the DPs as my English was poor. Us DPs soon learned to walk to school in groups as the other kids would throw rocks at us if we were alone. I also learned the section of town I lived in was called the "Poor Neighborhood."

I met one friend from the "Rich Neighborhood" and one day he came home with me after school He took one look at my mother and ran out the door screaming "She's a Jap" My mother had very strong oriental Features she was 100% Lithuanian Tatar and the Mongol features were very visible.

New Britain was not a very nice experience for me. We were quite poor, I really do not remember what products were not available or invented yet as we had literally nothing. We only lived in New Britain for 3 years and then moved back to the country. But in those 3 years I had completely forgotten every bit of Lithuanian and Russian I Used to speak.

We moved to Tariffville, where I lived until I went into the seminary and then the USAF. It was a nice time and Tariffville became the home town I knew best.

The Years 1945-1950 were very hard years. Nearly every thing available today had not yet been invented. Try to picture a world without plastics, television, power lawn mowers, Pc's, Nitendos or any video games. No DVD's, no VHS tapes, no cell phones, no Digital Cameras. Most popular toys were kites, made out of paper and we had to string and assemble, 9 out of 10 times breaking the wooden spar as we tried to bend the "bow" to get the right curvature, Model Airplanes, that we carved from Balsa wood and from strips of balsa wood that we glued together to make the frame, fuselage and wings, then using rice paper to make the "fabric" which we painted. We had no Hula Hoops but we had barrel hoops, We had no frisbees but we had metal pie pans we sneaked out of the kitchen. Store bought ice cream came in 3 flavors Vanilla, Chocolate and Strawberry. soft drinks were Coca-cola, Root beer, Sarsaparilla, cream, Birch beer, Ginger Ale, Moxie, Orange Crush, Nehi Grape and the new comer Pepsi. No diet or no caffeine versions, we got the full poison and later in life made Dentists rich.

we had very few toys unless we made them ourselves. our leisure time activities, were fishing, hunting, hiking, camping, horseback riding, swimming(in the river, not a pool) skiing, hockey,part-time jobs etc.

I spent the summers working on a farm, plowing with horses and later a tractor that I almost killed myself on several times before I taught myself how to drive it. Live then was swim or sink. We learned on our own.

We also had advantages not available today. There was a small Airport 3 miles from Tariffville. I walked to it every Saturday and did any odd job available, sweeping floors, cleaning toilets, washing planes, in exchange for flying lessons. I soloed shortly after my 14th Birthday and got my legal license at 16.

Times were different. No minimum age laws for working but also no minimum wage. I was happy if I made 50 cents a day on the days I worked for money. Often I only made anywhere from 25 cents to a dollar for a week.

Interesting side note. I still have my original Social Security Card I got in 1954
when I started a job that was under Social Security Coverage. On the card in big bold letters it says "NOT TO BE USED FOR IDENTIFICATION" and under that in small letters "for social security purposes only"
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zakirs
01-18-2010, 03:43 PM
Brilliant description uncle woodrow. You narrate very well :). Have you ever thought about writing a book ? . Very similiar to the way how my dad lived ( well almost) except for the fact that there was less of racism and more or poor-rich seperation. And he didn't have the luck to take free flying lessons :P


Wow so that free lessons earned you a USAF seat ?
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Woodrow
01-18-2010, 03:53 PM
format_quote Originally Posted by zakirs
Brilliant description uncle woodrow. You narrate very well :). Have you ever thought about writing a book ? . Very similiar to the way how my dad lived ( well almost) except for the fact that there was less of racism and more or poor-rich seperation. And he didn't have the luck to take free flying lessons :P


Wow so that free lessons earned you a USAF seat ?
It helped. The Air Force still had the Aviation cadet program for High School Graduates who Scored above the 90 percentile on the aptitude test. The basic flying gave me sufficient math skills for navigation. without that my math level probably would have been too low to have gotten accepted as an Aviation Cadet.
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Supreme
01-18-2010, 06:07 PM
This is interesting. There must have been some thrilling moments you witnessed (indirectly). Stalin's death must have been thrilling. The Civil Rights movement must have been thrilling. The transformation of America must have been thrilling. The assassination of Kennedy must have been thrilling. Thrilling but not necessarily good.
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sister herb
01-18-2010, 06:38 PM
Wow this is exciting. Like history lesson of your country.

:statisfie

More more please.
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zakirs
01-18-2010, 06:42 PM
Yeah .. more more more *bangs cup on the table*
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Woodrow
01-18-2010, 07:32 PM
1950-1960

Probably the most dramatic decade I lived through, some highlights. No particular order. Just listing the highlights I remember and will come back in another post and discuss my life during this interesting decade

Population explosion in the USA

Large scale moving from the Rural farms to Urban cities

Minimum wage laws enacted

Rapid jumps in technology

Development of the H-Bomb

Cold war

Iron curtain closes Eastern Europe to the Western world

Death of Stalin

Guerillas on the plain of Jars in French Indochina overrun the French

DeGaul disbands the French foreign legion and all the French nations in North Africa are granted independence.

Civil war in Morocco between Spanish Morocco and the Former French Morocco

Unification of Morocco under Muhammad V

Death of Muhammad V

Border wars between Morocco and Algeria over the Dra Valley

Development of oil Fields in the Mideast, Oil Sheiks in Saudi become World's richest people

Cold war escalates and nuclear destruction between Russia and USA appears to be eminent. Rapid build up of ICBMs by both countries with each country having an estimated 30,000 Nuclear warheads aimed at targets in the other. Every point in USA and Russia being within 15 minutes of a strike if the missiles are launched.

USA begins training Saudi, Iranian, Iraqi, Vietnamese, Laotian and Turkish combat pilots.

Dew line radar proves to be too sensitive and the mountains on the moon are detected by radar as being a massive missle launch. Order is given to launch 20,000 nuclear armed missiles to Russian targets and is aborted less than 5 minutes before launch, when the technicians realize the radar blips were mountains on the moon.

North Korea with Chinese aid invades South Korea. UN orders US into Korea as a peace keeping force, Line of demarcation is set as the 38th parallel North Korea refuse to move back, Korean war starts.

Rapid development of space rockets, space age begins with Russia launching Sputnik into orbit.

Communication satellites develop and Echo one is launched opening the possibilities of world wide instant telecommunications

Strategic Air Command formed and put under control of Gen LeMay

B-47 bomber built

B-52 bomber built equipped with more fire power than all of the weapons used in WW2, by all sides combined including the 2 nukes used against Japan

Viet Cong invade Vietnam, North Vietnam falls to Vietcong and South Vietnam requests equipment, ground advisers and instructor pilots from USA. South Vietnam is equipped with USA F-86 fighters. (by the end of 1960 non escalation pact is signed and USA agrees to limit weapons sent to Vietnam to be no more advanced than WW2 vintage, F-86s pulled out and replaced with propeller driven fighters)
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Misz_Muslimah
01-18-2010, 07:52 PM
Mashallah!!
May allah grant you good health, and a long life inshallah!
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sister herb
01-18-2010, 08:02 PM
Thanks uncle Woodrow. You can see we "kids" are here sitting like circle and waiting more stories.

:statisfie

But take your time. We can wait (and "bang cup on the table"). ;D
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Woodrow
01-18-2010, 08:45 PM
1950-1960 cont'd

For me this was a fascinating decade, so much as happening at the same time. The dawn of the space age. It seems suddenly all of us kids instantly became rocket scientists and were launching home made rockets from our back yards. The materials for making solid fuel rockets was readily available in any hardware store. But we liked to experiment sometimes with impressive results and sometimes humorous and sadly sometimes disastrous. I had a few friends killed when their homemade rockets exploded.

One of the funniest was a borderline genius kid in our high school designed and built a radio controlled rocket. He got permission to launch it on the school grounds and had quite a large audience to watch his launch. According to him the rocket would reach an altitude of 50,000 feet at which point a parachute would open and the rocket would fall gently back to earth. He had set up a real fancy looking launch gantry made out of WOOD. He fiddled with his remote controls the rocket ignited and and was building up power to launch, the WOOD gantry caught on fire and fell over at the moment of launch, the rocket sailed across the school yard and hit our young genius in the stomach knocking him over at which time the parachute popped up. Fortunatly he did not suffer any injuries except for wounded pride.

this was also a time when the Iron curtan fell across Europe and much of Eastern Europe was swallowed up by the Soviet Union. A time of sadness for those of us who had relatives in Eastern Europe countries.

Television finaly became affordable and everybody glued to the screen watching fuzzy balck and white movies of the Lone Ranger.

Univac was built a massive computer that filled an entire building and was equal in functioning to today's pocket calculator. But an amazing thing then.

The Amana Range a microwave oven began showing up in filling stations and people could get hot sandwiches on the go. Fast food became a trend, the first I remeger was Griff's Hamburgers. Plain hamburgers were 10 cents each.

Polio vaccine became a reality and polio stopped being the crippler of young people every summer. Einstein died. I felt that as a personal loss. I had met him not long before and saw him as a gentle old man who was a friend of my 6th grade teacher. I did not even know he was famous until seeing his picture on the front page of the paper when he died.

Jet aircraft became common sights.

Prosperity was in the air and houses were being built at record rates. Cities seemed to mushroom all over as people moved from the farms for factory jobs in the cities.

It was a time of expansion and a good feeling of Prosperity. Elvis Presly made his appearance on the Ed Sullivan show and "Hound Dog" it was the time of Beatniks we thought we were the cool guys. Our vocabulary consisted of "Like Man" our activites were playing bongo drums an listening to poetry from obscure authers such as Louie the Louse who was known for his famous poem
"Roses are Red. Violets are Blue. I like hambugers, can you swim?" In 1958 I thought that made sense.

The stores were filled with items we had no idea of just months before. It was a time of product explosions and new products were developed almost daily.

We lived under the threat of nuclear annihilation, but developed an attitude of who cares.

This was problem the turning point in American attitudes and beliefs. The attitude was changing to "Live for today, the heck with tomorrow"

After the end of the 40s when we had nothing we were plunged into an age of having everything but wanting nothing.
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Woodrow
01-19-2010, 12:52 AM
Just going over some of the things that had the greatest impact on me.

Events:

The death of Kennedy. This is one of those events a person remembers where they where and what they were doing when they heard the news. I was still in the USAF and in Building 505 at Barksdale AFB, Louisiana. I had only stopped in to say hello to a friend when it came over the loudspeaker that the President had been shot and believed to be dead.

Everybody immediately became silent. It was like we were all stunned. There was no unusual activity taking place in Russia so it did not appear it was a prelude to war with the USSR.

Oddly many people had suspected that Kennedy would be assassinated before he finished his Term. Every President after Lincoln who was elected in 20 year increments after Lincolns election had died in office. Kennedy was elected 100 years after Lincoln was elected.

the explosion of the Space shuttle Columbia. This I remember very well, The shuttle passed directly over my house as it was exploding. I thought it was either a tornado or an oil well blew up. The day before I had gotten a post card in the mail that a crew expected a well about a mile from me was going to blow as the well casing had split. When I saw the sky was clear I assumed it was the oil well. I turned on the TV and there was a news flash that the Columbia had disappeared from radar over Texas. Shortly later I heard sirens and found out the first piece of debris had hit the ground about 2 miles from me. I will never forget the sound of the explosion, it lasted several minutes and sounded like a tornado passing over. Later I found out the Explosion started when it was over Dallas about 100 miles North of me but it was traveling over 30,000 MPH it was only a second or 2 after it was over Dallas it was over me.

The assassination of Martin Luther King What makes that most memorable is because it was the same day our Doctor confirmed my wife was pregnant with our second child.


Inventions that had the most impact on me

Transistors- Almost over night portable radios became a reality. Prior the portable radios were the size of a suitcase.

Pocket Calculators-- completly replaced every math tool I used. No more carrying a slide rule because I might have to multiply something.

MIR eliminated the need for exploratory surgery I would have required.

Polaroid Cameras-- Final got to see if I needed to take additional picture instead of waiting to weeks for pictures to come back from developing.

Microwave Oven- Saved me from dieing of starvation after my first wife died. I was finally able to fix bachelor style meals.

PC fast became my window to the world and still let me live out in the woods.

Cell phones-- I can finally call my wife when I forget what she sent me to the store for. Here that is a long trip and very inconvenient if you forget anything.

Digital Camera-- One of my pleasures in life. Love taking pictures of scenery

Satellite navigation--sure made my flying easier when I was still doing personal flying. Beats doing the math for instrument triangulation or even visible steller/solar navigation

Social Changes that affected my life the most:

Integration--Prior to that it would have been illegal for me to have married my last 2 wives.

Growth of Islam in the USA--Until I was about 40 there were virtually 0 Muslims in the USA. The few that were here were either students or tourists. I believe that until the mid 1900s there was only one Masjid in the entire USA


Fall of the USSR-- No longer live under the threat of Mutual nuclear annihilation.

shift in USA economic from being producers to becoming distributors. Offside is loss of jobs in USA good side decrease in pollution from industry

Increased apathy regarding the Federal Government--as the US citizens loose interest in the political antics of Washington, DC the more State and Local rights get removed. Soon the USA will be fully controlled by the Federal Government rather than the people controlling the government. The Central government has gained unbelievable power since the 1960s. It is becoming the people are obeying the government and the government is ceasing to obey the people.
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Beardo
01-19-2010, 12:59 AM
Jazakumullahu Khair for making this thread. :D

indeed, all this is very interesting. The beginning of your life really touched me. Growing up without a father, toys, ONE MEAL OR LESS a day... imsad
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Woodrow
01-19-2010, 01:50 AM
format_quote Originally Posted by Rashad
Jazakumullahu Khair for making this thread. :D

indeed, all this is very interesting. The beginning of your life really touched me. Growing up without a father, toys, ONE MEAL OR LESS a day... imsad
It was pretty much the norm for all of us born between 1935-1945. People tend to forget that from 1929-1940 the USA had become one of the most poverty stricken nations in the world. The Depression and the Great Dust Bowl in the midwest states had stopped nearly all food production and shutting down of factories and mines caused widespread unemployment. Then came the war and nearly every male between the ages of 18-35 was drafted for military service. times were rough, but everybody was facing rough times and we never realized how bad off we were until it was over.
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syilla
01-19-2010, 01:54 AM
akheee............ you should scan your old picturesss....

a pictures can say thousands thingss.... :D :D
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Woodrow
01-19-2010, 02:33 AM
format_quote Originally Posted by syilla
akheee............ you should scan your old picturesss....

a pictures can say thousands thingss.... :D :D
Pictures are all long gone, several times in my life I have lost all things I thought I owned. Once to a flood, once to a fire, once to a tornado and three or 4 times to mismanagement. Most recently in Sept of last year when Aabidah and I moved from Minnesota. We trusted somebody to put all our belongings in storage and instead they dumped them in a land fill. But material goods can always be replaced with something better Inshallah

Fortunatly most of the picture I took last year are stored on photbucket.
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Beardo
01-19-2010, 02:51 AM
format_quote Originally Posted by Woodrow
Pictures are all long gone, several times in my life I have lost all things I thought I owned. Once to a flood, once to a fire, once to a tornado and three or 4 times to mismanagement. Most recently in Sept of last year when Aabidah and I moved from Minnesota. We trusted somebody to put all our belongings in storage and instead they dumped them in a land fill. But material goods can always be replaced with something better Inshallah

Fortunatly most of the picture I took last year are stored on photbucket.
Wow. Masha'Allah, you have patience. If it were me, I'd be really angry...
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sister herb
01-23-2010, 05:24 PM
Uncle Woodrow... we are waiting more. Even some those pictures you possible still have at photbucket.

:statisfie

Please.

When I read your stories about life in the USA before I saw it wasn´t so different than life at the same times by my parents (even they are Europeans and a little older than you - my dad is 80).
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zakirs
01-23-2010, 06:11 PM
seconded .. more please
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deepfreeze66
01-23-2010, 06:47 PM
format_quote Originally Posted by Woodrow
Pictures are all long gone, several times in my life I have lost all things I thought I owned. Once to a flood, once to a fire, once to a tornado and three or 4 times to mismanagement. Most recently in Sept of last year when Aabidah and I moved from Minnesota. We trusted somebody to put all our belongings in storage and instead they dumped them in a land fill. But material goods can always be replaced with something better Inshallah

Fortunatly most of the picture I took last year are stored on photbucket.
If they did do that, dumping that in a landfill, then you should sue them or something. Why on God's green Earth would they do that.
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Woodrow
01-24-2010, 02:38 AM
1960-1969 (Approx dates, some events a year or 2 before, some a year or 2 after)

This was a time of change for me. It was also a nice time and a very bad time. I had finished a semester as a seminarian to be a Catholic Priest. Many changes were rapidly taking place in the Catholic Church. Latin was dropped as the church language. Replaced by local language, it became permissible to eat meat on Fridays and many other changes. I became disillusioned with the priesthood and left the seminary. I began a military career. Applied for and got accepted as an aviation cadet. Became a fighter pilot. It was a short flying career. For various reasons I won't go into I was in a region were I got shot down. After a year in a body cast I returned to active duty, but no longer in flying status and in an enlisted grade. I had intended to stay in for 20 years but got married and settled down. I spent an additional 4 years in the military. During this time we had our first 2 children. After I got out of the military I went to work. First job back in civilian life paid $260 per month. It was not enough to support a wife and 2 kids. Went back to school this time in Structural Engineering. While in school got a job working in the enginering dept of a Structural Fabricating company. Pay jumped up pretty good to $400 per month plus over time making an average of $600 per month. Was able to buy a new car for $165 per month on a 3 year note. That was actually a higher than average salary for that time. My job was primarily doing design drawings of large structures wide range of structures but mostly Oil refineries, bridges and large buildings. Biggest projects I worked on were The Refinery in Inchon Korea, a gigantic fertilizer Plant in Odessa Russia, and the pipe Stanchions for the Alaska Pipeline.During this time I continued part time with my education

Wages were low then but so were prices. We bought our first house for $9,500, did considerable traveling around the world. I left Catholicism and became an Evangelical Preacher. Lived and preached in a number of Islamic countries. Don't believe I managed to convert one Muslim during that time. But made many friends, attended the University of Rabat to learn Arabic. Used to often spend a few days in a hotel in Tangiers (Tanja), Price was about $4.00 per day. average income in Morocco was $60 per year. Muhammad 5 was king and after his Death, his son Moulay Hassan became king. My second involvement with combat when a border war broke out Between Morocco and Algeria.

Tuition costs were reasonable. I went to what was considered a very expensive school and my school expenses were under $2000 per year. Fortunatly very little came out of my pocket, I had a scholarship, a grant and my benefits from having served in the military.

Several events stuck out, The Cuban Missile crisis of Oct 1962. We felt Kennedy had sold South Viet Nam down the drain. In exchange for Russia removing their Missle bases out of Cuba Kennedy agreed to non-escalation in vietnam, no USA combat forces would be sent to Vietnam, only instructors and military advisers. We would only supply the South Vietnamese with weapons no more advanced than what The Viet Cong had. Later we learned that the USA and Russia were within minute of mutual annihilation. If we had not agreed with Kruschev, the Soviet Union would have launched and etimated 30,000 nuclear Missles to targets in the US and if Khrushchev had not agreed with Kennedy we would have launched a like number to targets in the USSR.

The next big memory was the assassination of JFK. Most of us were convinced Oswald acted alone, and his real target was John Connaly but he was a poor shot and hit Kennedy instead. as he had a grudge against Connaly and had made vocal threats against him.

But overall Americans were optimistic about the future. There was relative peace in the world, and Vietnam did not appear to be escalating.
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Beardo
01-24-2010, 02:41 AM
$10K for a house in the US. :hmm: How big was it?

You used to preach and try to convert Muslims to Christians? No way. ;D SubhanAllah.
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Woodrow
01-24-2010, 03:54 AM
format_quote Originally Posted by Rashad
$10K for a house in the US. :hmm: How big was it?

You used to preach and try to convert Muslims to Christians? No way. ;D SubhanAllah.
It was quite large. In fact too large for us it had 15 rooms and 3 bathrooms. It was in Louisiana and property values in Louisiana were very low at that time. The house essentially did not have a yard. a person could barely walk between it and the neighboring houses. We only kept it a few years and sold it for less than $7,000 just so we could get rid of it and move out of the city.

Yes from the mid 60s till the mid 70s I was an Evangelical. Have some very funny stories about that era. At the time I did not think they were were funny but now I think they were hilarious. One was when I was in Agadir, Morocco. a rival preacher, from another denomination, was having a tent revival and several hundred if not a 1000 Moroccans attended his revival every night. He did not speak or understand Arabic, but had an interpreter. Each night the Moroccans showed very high levels of enthusiaism. On the next to last night he Asked the crowd to bring their Qurans with them on his last night. They came back the next night. He had them set their "Qurans" in a pile and without warning set them on fire. The people almost started a riot, but he jumped up and handed out Arabic Language Bibles to the crowd, then he discovered the books he burned were not Qurans but were Arabic language bibles and the people that had been coming to his revivals were not Muslim, but were Pentecostal Christians.
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Believer51
01-24-2010, 04:13 AM
Masha'Allah!!!!
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OurIslamic
01-24-2010, 04:56 AM
format_quote Originally Posted by Woodrow
It was quite large. In fact too large for us it had 15 rooms and 3 bathrooms. It was in Louisiana and property values in Louisiana were very low at that time. The house essentially did not have a yard. a person could barely walk between it and the neighboring houses. We only kept it a few years and sold it for less than $7,000 just so we could get rid of it and move out of the city.

Yes from the mid 60s till the mid 70s I was an Evangelical. Have some very funny stories about that era. At the time I did not think they were were funny but now I think they were hilarious. One was when I was in Agadir, Morocco. a rival preacher, from another denomination, was having a tent revival and several hundred if not a 1000 Moroccans attended his revival every night. He did not speak or understand Arabic, but had an interpreter. Each night the Moroccans showed very high levels of enthusiaism. On the next to last night he Asked the crowd to bring their Qurans with them on his last night. They came back the next night. He had them set their "Qurans" in a pile and without warning set them on fire. The people almost started a riot, but he jumped up and handed out Arabic Language Bibles to the crowd, then he discovered the books he burned were not Qurans but were Arabic language bibles and the people that had been coming to his revivals were not Muslim, but were Pentecostal Christians.
I could see how you wouldn't of this as funny at the time, but now think it is :).

Also, you're a very learned person, I'm sure that you're one of the most knowledgeable people on this forum, uncle.
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sister herb
01-24-2010, 04:51 PM
Thanks.

:statisfie

And what about 1970s´? I was 4 at 1970. :embarrass
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Ğħαrєєвαħ
01-24-2010, 06:58 PM
MashaAllaah great thread, and great Story by Brother Woodrow, very Inspiring MashaAllaah.."but were Pentecostal Christians" that is soo miracilous like, woww Alhamdulilah they didnt burn The Holy Q`uraan:)
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zakirs
01-24-2010, 07:25 PM
I think we should ban uncle woodrow from future writing competions on IB . At this rate he would win them all :p
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Ğħαrєєвαħ
01-24-2010, 07:37 PM
Yes i agree. lets ban him :D.i vote yes "Bann"
lool messing noo way :)
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waqas maqsood
01-25-2010, 05:57 AM
Is the autobiography to be continued....

I am waiting eagerly of what happens next...

Mashallah, a piece of history, yet very entertaining! Would like to know the approach to Islam of brother Woodrow and between the 70's and 90's...
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waqas maqsood
01-25-2010, 05:59 AM
format_quote Originally Posted by Woodrow
Yes from the mid 60s till the mid 70s I was an Evangelical. Have some very funny stories about that era. At the time I did not think they were were funny but now I think they were hilarious. One was when I was in Agadir, Morocco. a rival preacher, from another denomination, was having a tent revival and several hundred if not a 1000 Moroccans attended his revival every night. He did not speak or understand Arabic, but had an interpreter. Each night the Moroccans showed very high levels of enthusiaism. On the next to last night he Asked the crowd to bring their Qurans with them on his last night. They came back the next night. He had them set their "Qurans" in a pile and without warning set them on fire. The people almost started a riot, but he jumped up and handed out Arabic Language Bibles to the crowd, then he discovered the books he burned were not Qurans but were Arabic language bibles and the people that had been coming to his revivals were not Muslim, but were Pentecostal Christians.
Hahahahaha..... HILARIOUS...

LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL
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Woodrow
01-27-2010, 03:14 PM
1960s (cont'd)

This was a time of major social changes. The civil rights movement finally brought results and much of the blatant discrimination in the USA ended. For the first time all schools had to be integrated. No more separate facilities for white and non-white. Gone were the days of separate doors in stores for white and non-white, reserved seats on buses for "white only".

It also had some movements that produced good and bad, the drop-out Beatnik generation was replaced by the Hippies (Flower Children) this was part of the "sexual revolution" that pretty much ended modesty and brought an end to many "decency" laws. It also brought about wide spread drug usage, a big anti rules mentality, anti-religion became widespread, a major drop in church attendance in the USA, loss of many standards in the fields of education and employment. th disappearance of family farms as small farms could not compet with the large corporate farms. Rapidly increasing wages accompanied by inflation. Easy availability of credit cards, deficit spending on all levels from individuals to corporations to government.

Along with social reforms came welfare systems. There was an overall loss of work ethics, people began getting an attitude of how can I get my share, instad of were can I find extra work to earn enough to buy what I want.

Individual independance was replaced with dependence on the government.

The USA population exploded to nearly double what it had been while I was growing up. The large cities became over populated along with the ills of overpopulation. Crime rates increased, gangster attitude and gangs became surrogate families for teenagers. History may eventually depict this as the initial death bell for the USA. The USA changed from rule by small town individuals to uncontrolled big government. Apathy became the rule and the major belief became the "God is Dead theory"

But, it was also a time of advancements good or bad. The USA became dependent on foreign oil and resulted in a near crisis when OPEC raised oil prices resulting in the USA boycotting foreign oil, but paying higher prices for domestic oil. this was the end of cheap oil. Along with the loss of cheap energy came higher prices, especially in food products.

Gold and silver prices sky rocketed. The USA dropped it's long established practice of buying gold at mine prices and valuing the coinage at $20 per ounce of gold backing. Gold no longer backed the American Currency. You could no longer redeem a dollar bill for an ounce of silver and foreign nations could no longer redeem $20 bills for an ounce of gold.

There was a big reduction of American bases in the mideast. All of the bases in North Africa were shut down. As the USSR threat lessened, there was a reduction of SAC bases world wide. The Military Draft in the USA ended and the military became all volunteer.

Iran and Iraq oil fields began being devloped for larger production.

There was an incrase of military activity in South East Asia as Viet-cong, Cong-Hoa and Khymer-rouge forces began gaining control. It was becoming Apparant that soon the US would be involved in open combat missions in either Cambodia, Laos, Thailand or Vietnam. At this time the primary role had been providing military support in the form of providing equipment, advisers and training for the National Military of each nation. Under Johnson the Vietnam issue became a full war. With poor planning and much misinformation. If it had not been so tragic it would have been a good humor story going from Johnson with almost daily escalations to the Secretary of defense Robert S. Macnamara changing the entire US military to full nuclear power with no remaining conventional weapons. Virtually the entire US conventional arsenal was sold to Germany to be reprocessed into making feritlizer. When it became evident that conventional weapons would b used in Vietnam these all had to be bought back for nearly 10 times the price Macnamara sold them for. The US military was essentially haphazard and poorly trained. Every error that could be made was made. The Democratic party lost much support for getting the USA involved in Vietnam. This in turn set the US up for the Nixon Era. Nixon had never been considered a worthwhile candidate, but the errors of the Democrats since Johnson opened the door for the Republicans to win no matter who they picked to run as President.

The stupidity of Vietnam guaranteed a victory for whoever ran on the Republican ticket in 1968.

the biggest evnts I remember of this time was my living in the mideast and being amazed at how friendly Muslims were towards Americans, even American preachers. At that time if somebody had asked me who the best friends of Americans were, I would have said Muslims world wide. They were the only people we had never had a war with and had historically been our strongest supporters. (The Muslim Moros in the Philippines, were seen by Americans as Spanish during the Spanish/American war of 1898)

Some highlights during the 1960s

Assassination of Kennedy

Civil rights movement

End of the Military Draft

Escalation of Vietnam

Assassination of Martin Luther King Jr

Election of Nixon
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sister herb
02-16-2010, 07:40 PM
............................................
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ardianto
04-06-2010, 03:26 PM
format_quote Originally Posted by Woodrow
I was 2 years 5 months and 2 days old when Pearl Harbor was Bombed.
Really ?.

My father was 2 years 5 months and 1 day old when Pearl Harbor was Bombed.
Reply

GuCcI
04-06-2010, 04:42 PM
wow this is amazing, its like reading a book. when did you become Muslim?
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Woodrow
04-06-2010, 05:25 PM
format_quote Originally Posted by GuCcI
wow this is amazing, its like reading a book. when did you become Muslim?
I accepted Islam in May of 2005.

For those who noticed the coincidence I joined LI in May 2006. I celebrated my first year as a Muslim here.
Reply

Danah
04-06-2010, 06:21 PM
Very interesting thread. Reminded me of my father when he start telling us about their old life, he is 5 or 6 years younger than you..May Allah grant you both a healthy long life.
The first year of your life really touched me, I think this was something very common in such era for many people as the life back then was not easy with all wars around.
I am thinking now...what we call PC, Cell phones, Gadgets, Satellite, Digital Cameras will sound very naive to those who will live 70 years later, I am wondering now how we will be telling our stories to next generations. Allah knows what kind of inventions those generations will have.

format_quote Originally Posted by Woodrow
Yes from the mid 60s till the mid 70s I was an Evangelical. Have some very funny stories about that era. At the time I did not think they were were funny but now I think they were hilarious. One was when I was in Agadir, Morocco. a rival preacher, from another denomination, was having a tent revival and several hundred if not a 1000 Moroccans attended his revival every night. He did not speak or understand Arabic, but had an interpreter. Each night the Moroccans showed very high levels of enthusiaism. On the next to last night he Asked the crowd to bring their Qurans with them on his last night. They came back the next night. He had them set their "Qurans" in a pile and without warning set them on fire. The people almost started a riot, but he jumped up and handed out Arabic Language Bibles to the crowd, then he discovered the books he burned were not Qurans but were Arabic language bibles and the people that had been coming to his revivals were not Muslim, but were Pentecostal Christians.
SubhanAllah, everyone is treated according to his intentions.


You should put all those posts of yours in one pdf file and print a book, or even make it as an E-book.
Reply

Woodrow
04-07-2010, 04:28 AM
format_quote Originally Posted by Danah
Very interesting thread. Reminded me of my father when he start telling us about their old life, he is 5 or 6 years younger than you..May Allah grant you both a healthy long life.
The first year of your life really touched me, I think this was something very common in such era for many people as the life back then was not easy with all wars around.
I am thinking now...what we call PC, Cell phones, Gadgets, Satellite, Digital Cameras will sound very naive to those who will live 70 years later, I am wondering now how we will be telling our stories to next generations. Allah knows what kind of inventions those generations will have.



SubhanAllah, everyone is treated according to his intentions.


You should put all those posts of yours in one pdf file and print a book, or even make it as an E-book.
Perhaps one day. Inshallah
Reply

sister herb
05-10-2010, 09:49 PM
Salam alaykum

Thanks again. When I read your story I learnt about history about your country a lot. :statisfie And just about history of people.
Reply

Woodrow
05-11-2010, 02:28 AM
:sl:

Today is one of those drab, dreary days that is very conducive for thoughts of memories past. Just been sitting and thinking over how fortunate I have been and the many blessings Allaah(swt) has given me, knowing I am not nor ever will be worthy of any of them.

For some reason I am lost in thought about my life during the 1950's In 1952 we moved to Tariffville, Connecticut. Which I claimed immediately as my home town. Beautiful little town then. Built around a bend in the Farmington river near some white water rapids and small waterfalls. The Southern end of the Metacomet trail and in the middle of the Tunxis forest. We lived in an ancient apartment house that had 4 three story apartments It was originally an Inn built in the mid 1600s. One of the few structures that survived the "King Phillip Wars" of 1675-1676 during which at least half of the towns in the colonies were burned to the ground. King Phillip's actual name was Metacomet. Metacomet trail is the route by which he and his warriors came into the Tariffville/Simsbury area which at the time was called Simsbury Town. Virtually 100% of the town was burned down out of over 500 houses only 2 or 3 were left standing. In terms of percentages the King Phillip wars produced the largest casualties of any war Americans have been in, nearly 80% of all white Americans were killed and over 90% of the homes were destroyed. Even as a kid signs of the old battle were still visible. I found many arrowheads and musket balls out in the plowed fields and the rafters of our old house still had arrow heads embedded in them. It was a fantastic house for a young boy. It also was only three miles, walking distance of Simsbury Airport were I walked to nearly every weekend and began my first love of flying.

1952 late summer began with a bang. My first summer in Tariffville ended. The weekend before the start of the school year 2 friends and myself sneaked out of Sunday school to go "Mountain Climbing" a very high cliff begins at the Edge of the Farmington river and extends upwards about 500 feet over looking Tariffville. That was our challenge. I really do not know how high I was when I slipped and fell. I still remember the fall and rolling and tumbling, bouncing off the face of the cliff. And landing face down at the edge of the river. I was probably unconcious for a few minutes as I was just becoming aware of being on the ground when my friends reached me. My clothes were pretty much shredded, I was covered with bruises and scratches but only had 2 noticeably serious injuries a very bad gash on the side of my head and my left foot was oddly turned. Being typical kids of the time our concern was how were we going to cover up we had sneaked out of Sunday School. I had no immediate problem as my Mother was at work and would not be home until that evening. My worry was the clothes as they were the first new shirt and pants I had ever had and I was supposed to wear them to the first day of school next week. One of the kids said he had gotten several shirts and would bring me one the other kid said he had a pair of pants. I managed to keep my twisted leg hidden by wearing high shoes that we used to call Hi-Cuts, sort of like lace up boots. Well we managed to keep it hidden for several years and it was not known until I finally had some X-rays and it was found I had broken my leg and it had never been set and had completely snapped off a rib that never grew back together. I was in quite a bit of pain for most of 1952 and 1953. Yet, that turned out to be a blessing as a result I developed a very high tolerance for pain, which eventually served me well in my later years.

The 1950s were also the decade when I met some people who greatly influenced my life. Both were close friends of my sixth grade teacher and were frequent visitors at his house and in our town. Although I did not know they were anybody famous. I just knew Albert Einstein and Robert Frost as nice old men who liked sitting on the banks of the river and talking with kids.

The 1950s were also a time of fierce racism, especially in the South. segregation was the law in many states. None of us in Tarriffville had ever seen a black person and sadly we did believe many of the stereotypical views we were taught. Or saw in the movies. When I entered the AF and met my first Black Person, I was surprised to discover he spoke English. There were some sad memories and beliefs I wish I had never encountered. I had faced prejudice because of my oriental background, but it was nothing like what I saw directed against Black people.

It was an interesting era. Who from that time could ever forget the nuclear fall out shelters and the nuclear attack drills we practiced at school. Looking back, did anybody actually believe squatting under our desks or along the wall would save us when the entire country would be vaporized in the event of a full attack. And why did I always have to squat behind Tony W. on the days he had beans for lunch.

It was the time of treason, mistrust and constant living under the threat of Nuclear Annihilation. Any kid knew that a nuclear war would only last 10 minutes and life on earth as we knew it would no longer exist. I believe it was Eisenhower who said, "I do not know what weapons will be used in WW3 but WW4 will have to be fought with sticks and stones" It was a time of fear for American and Russian kids. We grew up expecting to wake up to mushroom clouds.

It was also a time of great opportunity for common physical workers. Overseas high paying jobs were available throughout Saudi Arabia, Iran and Iraq as they were paying oil field roughnecks over $10,000 a month at a time when the average salary in the US was $250 a month. Many people worked for 3 years came back and retired on those earning. a new car could be bought for $1000 a house was $25,000. It also was the begining of the downfall for American Business. American businesses could not match the pay the foreign companies were paying. The result was the printing of worthless inflated money. A 1950s dime (10 cents) bought about the same amount of goods it takes 5 of our now dollars to buy. That $10,000 back then was very near the same as $50,000 to $75,000 today in terms of buying power.

But looking back there were a few things we could not have, they were not available during the first half of the decade, most vaccines, Computers, color TV. wireless phones, cell phone, digital cameras, MP3 players, jet air travel, fast food restaurants

(Imagine life without KFC, MacDonalds, Pizza Hut, Subway, unleaded gasoline. credit cards, video games, or even 24 hour TV, if you even lived in an area that had TV, who else here can remember the TV test patterns at night when the TV stations signed off for the night?)
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shuraimfan4lyf
05-11-2010, 02:38 AM
format_quote Originally Posted by zakirs
Yeah .. more more more *bangs cup on the table*
LOL..at that..

Nice thread mashaAllah..I didnt know you where 70 years old..my grandfather is like 76..He always tells us how he grew up with difficulty.
Reply

Ramadhan
05-11-2010, 10:23 AM
It's been such a great pleasure for me reading all your stories, unc woodrow!
May Allah SWT bless you and your family
Reply

Woodrow
05-11-2010, 05:53 PM
The 1970's

This was probably the fastest paced decade of my life and maybe for the world as a whole. It seem like I woke up the Morning of January 1, 1970 and when I went to bed that night it was Dec. 31, 1979. A very fast decade but one of many activities and achievements both personal and for the world.

For myself it was a fast changing time of career shifts, very high income accompanied by very high expenses. I do not recall a minute during that decade I did not have 2 full time jobs and was a full time university student with a few side line part time jobs to cover the cost of my fast growing family. a time of changes in religious beliefs, constant life shifting from rural to urban to metropolitan living. It was a very fast blur. A time of very high personal wealth and very high personal expenses. I am certain I earned and spent more in that one decade then in the other 6 decades of my life combined.

It was also a time of fast activity for the world. Technological advancements were occurring faster than they could be reported. Country borders were changing so fast that before a current world map could be printed, it had changed. Former allies were becoming enemies, former enemies were becoming allies. World religions were in a turmoil. Atheism became popular and not something to be kept private and hidden. Sexual attitudes changed from minute to minute. the beginning of the thought that any thing done among consenting adults should be allowed. But it was also a time of improvement for human rights. But, an accompanying phenomena was the advent of religious realignment, reformation and propagation. In America it was rapidly becoming unpopular for a person to be labeled Christian. This in turn seemed to have a rebound effect in the form of TV Evangelism, massive proselytism and cultism.

In the USA Mainstream Christianity was becoming Passee, the growths were in non-Christian anti establishment religious teachings. It was the fad to become:

Atheist

Agnostic

NOI (in that era only people of African heritage could join the NOI)

Jehovah Witness

Zen Buddhist

Bahai

Mormon

Scientologist (Which I really believe L. Ron Hubbard started as a joke, and did not think anybody would take him serious)

Transcendental Meditation

Moonies

Jim Jones

And countless cults and unknown obscure beliefs.


very strange and fast paced decade.
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cat eyes
05-11-2010, 09:49 PM
cool thread uncle woodrow :) i just love history stories, i think thats why i love being around elderly people i love when they start talking about when they were young and stuff. well i wont call you old i will just call you mature:hiding: i use to work in a holiday centre where old people would come and stay for like a week.. we had to take care of them. there was an old woman i met, she was german she actually remembers having to hide from the nazi's. she was young girl at the time hitler was in control

Luckily my friend is also german who worked with me since the old lady did not know much english my friend would translate her stories to me. her story was so sad
Reply

shuraimfan4lyf
05-12-2010, 04:34 AM
Originally Posted by Woodrow
Yes from the mid 60s till the mid 70s I was an Evangelical. Have some very funny stories about that era. At the time I did not think they were were funny but now I think they were hilarious. One was when I was in Agadir, Morocco. a rival preacher, from another denomination, was having a tent revival and several hundred if not a 1000 Moroccans attended his revival every night. He did not speak or understand Arabic, but had an interpreter. Each night the Moroccans showed very high levels of enthusiaism. On the next to last night he Asked the crowd to bring their Qurans with them on his last night. They came back the next night. He had them set their "Qurans" in a pile and without warning set them on fire. The people almost started a riot, but he jumped up and handed out Arabic Language Bibles to the crowd, then he discovered the books he burned were not Qurans but were Arabic language bibles and the people that had been coming to his revivals were not Muslim, but were Pentecostal Christians.
LOL thats pretty funny..that guy must have felt really stupid..
Reply

Woodrow
05-12-2010, 08:49 AM
The 1980s,

Before I describe the changes I saw take place I should point out this was a very painful decade for me and even now my memories of it are blurred and over shadowed by the grief I felt. I will simply sum my personal tragedies in a few short sentences. The Decade began with my youngest daughter being kidnapped and ended with the loss of my wife. In between I managed to loose every bit of personal property I had and for a while all income and my entire savings.

The good part was my daughter was eventually rescued.



Now for what I can remember in terms of world events.

The sudden discovery of AIDS and it's rapid spread throughout the world. It was quite a scare as nobody knew for certain were it came from or how it spread. It spread quite rapidly and for a long time it was not understood how it was spread.

The introduction and rapid spread of crack cocaine throughout large USA cities. The conspiracy stories and the fears related to it. One conspiracy that seemed to carry a lot of credibility is that crack was invented by somebody in the KKK and the intent was to kill off the Black population in the US, but it got out of control and became popular among white American youths. Looking back at the havoc it caused I can understand why that story seemed so believable.

The war on Drugs, not much different than today's war on terror except the targeted groups were the impoverished inner cities in the USA and the "Drug Lords" of Central and South America, predominately Colombia and Bolivia. This was fillowed by the Washington/Iran contra scandal. "The Iran–Contra affair (Persian: ماجرای مک*فارلین, Spanish: caso Irán-contras) was a political scandal in the United States which came to light in November 1986, during the Reagan administration, in which senior U.S. figures, including President Ronald Reagan, agreed to facilitate the sale of arms to Iran, the subject of an arms embargo. At least some U.S. officials also hoped that the arms sales would secure the release of hostages and allow U.S. intelligence agencies to fund Nicaraguan contras.

The affair began as an operation to improve U.S.-Iranian relations. It was planned that Israel would ship weapons to a relatively moderate, politically influential group of Iranians, and then that the U.S. would then resupply Israel and receive the Israeli payment. The Iranian recipients promised to do everything in their power to achieve the release of six U.S. hostages, who were being held by the Lebanese Shia Islamist group Hezbollah, who were unknowingly connected to the Army of the Guardians of the Islamic Revolution. The plan eventually deteriorated into an arms-for-hostages scheme, in which members of the executive branch sold weapons to Iran in exchange for the release of the American hostages. Large modifications to the plan were devised by Lieutenant Colonel Oliver North of the National Security Council in late 1985, in which a portion of the proceeds from the weapon sales was diverted to fund anti-Sandinista and anti-communist rebels, or Contras, in Nicaragua." SOURCE

This also seems to be the decade during which relationships between the USA and Islamic nations began to fall apart. Prior to this decade, there had been very friendly relations between the USA and Muslims worldwide.

The big technical advance I remember was the development of cable TV. Prior TV viewing was limited to watching channels very near to where you lived and roof tops were cluttered with various types of antennas, Reception was also interrupted by air planes, birds and automobiles. Very poor quality pictures, but free, Cable brought better reception and a very large number of channels, and a monthly TV bill.
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Snowflake
05-12-2010, 10:35 AM
Originally Posted by Woodrow
Yes from the mid 60s till the mid 70s I was an Evangelical. Have some very funny stories about that era. At the time I did not think they were were funny but now I think they were hilarious. One was when I was in Agadir, Morocco. a rival preacher, from another denomination, was having a tent revival and several hundred if not a 1000 Moroccans attended his revival every night. He did not speak or understand Arabic, but had an interpreter. Each night the Moroccans showed very high levels of enthusiaism. On the next to last night he Asked the crowd to bring their Qurans with them on his last night. They came back the next night. He had them set their "Qurans" in a pile and without warning set them on fire. The people almost started a riot, but he jumped up and handed out Arabic Language Bibles to the crowd, then he discovered the books he burned were not Qurans but were Arabic language bibles and the people that had been coming to his revivals were not Muslim, but were Pentecostal Christians.
LOL SubhanAllahhhhhh! :giggling:


This would make an amazing book Uncle Woodrow. Is there a possibility you can write one? :)
Reply

Getoffmyback
05-12-2010, 11:22 AM
I can't remember what i ate yesterday :D nice post.

My grand dad lived for 103 (1888-1991) years he served in the othman empire as the musician who leads the platoon he played this i don't know Whats called but its made from goat stomac or So ! The problem is i don't remember stories.

But On year 2000 my dad took us to syria to show us where he was borned and where his mom dad lived . They lived in a fortress or citadel in syria, a real historic fortress in (homs) .

He told me that it was a place to live in, many families lived in fortresses back then . There is a small well and a water canal and swimming pool lol. you can still see the metal bowles and the fire poles it's a huge beautiful fortress.

I walked around checking everything and i was trying to visualize how they lived lol . i really felt comfortable somehow i don't know Why its So peacefull. It was a nice trip .
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