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To the Idiot 5 Year Old Shooting his Parents Tell Me About Your Hostage Memories
(24 posts)-
Edog
offlineMemberPosted 4 months ago # -
great idea
offlineMemberwhen I was about five or six, I snuck up on my dad sleeping on the couch and shot him with a squirt gun.
he locked me in a closet for about 20 minutes.
my brother felt bad and slipped a pop-tart under the door for me.ahh, memories!
Posted 4 months ago # -
phoo
offlineMemberI used to play "barber" as a child with a pair of scissors until one day I said "whoops!" and was confined to using two fingers to cut hair.
Posted 4 months ago # -
biophile87
offlineMemberWhen I was 14ish, 5-6 guerillas with giant guns (Sandinistas? Contras? Secret Police? We'll never know) came to our house and neighboring houses to search for "clandestine radios". As I was in charge of the household, I locked them out and we were sequestered inside. Wouldn't let them in despite their threats to shoot. Two maids, my little sister, and me. Ladies are on their knees, praying, since they believe their day has come. My sister, eternally oblivious, is all like, what's going on??? I thought surely they would shoot us, or at least our dogs.
Somehow, someone got hold of my parents at work, and my dad let them in when he arrived (not that you have a choice when a gun is aimed at you). Let me tell you, Central America in the 80's was no picnic. But in the end, I guess they decided a weeping 65 lb 14 year-old kid was not much of a threat to the State. They searched and left. To this day, I don't know who they were.
I hate guns.
Posted 4 months ago # -
onederfullone
offlineMember"Let me tell you, Central America in the 80's was no picnic."
still not any picnic destination, fwiw.
Posted 4 months ago # -
SmartsyArtsy
offlineMemberwow, what chutzpa bio.
Posted 4 months ago # -
iPlod
offlineMemberI'm sorry for your experience, biophile87.
I have to say though that your hate is misdirected because the main thing keeping you safe here are U.S. guns abroad.
Posted 4 months ago # -
Mondoman
offlineMember1d +1
SA +1Posted 4 months ago # -
Cate
offlineMemberI can't even imagine the kind of courage it took for a 14 year old girl to lock out armed gunmen. biophile, I am in awe.
Posted 4 months ago # -
Compass Rose
offlineMemberBio, where were you living when this happened?
Posted 3 months ago # -
Ballardemician
offlineMemberNicaragua probably, given the Sandinistas and Contras. It's shameful that our tax dollars, directly or otherwise, fostered the terrorizing of your family. We live in a complicated world and are very lucky here to avoid a lot of the bad most other people on the planet need to cope with.
Posted 3 months ago # -
SmartsyArtsy
offlineMember+100 BM
Posted 3 months ago # -
biophile87
offlineMemberThanks for the props, Cate and SA.
The Universe seems to protect those whom are defiant, rebellious underweight runts whose (figurative) balls are bigger than their size. One of the Ladies who took care of our house came to tell me someone was on our roof, and I was was outraged that anyone would be on MY TURF (as the forbidden roof was my favorite hangout because it was forbidden). So I climbed up on the wall between houses in my little plaid-pleated school uniform skirt and white knee-highs and I see not one of the neighborhood kids who will soon be beaten up by me, but Men With Big Guns. One man ordered me to freeze, but without thinking, I bolted inside and locked us up.
We were cowering in the bathroom with the biggest dog, and the chihuahua sized-dogs are outside tearing at the pants legs of the bad guys. I thought for sure they'd be killed. All the neighborhood boys, ages ranging from 8-14 were lined up against the wall of one of the houses, and searched. Our standoff lasted for a couple of hours.
Now that I think back, I realize my sense of unease and paranoia during those years was not crazy, but no one really talked about what was happening. You'd be playing out in the street, and boys would come stampeding up the street running from the army trucks, which if they caught you, would draft you to the "army", which could mean anything up to being disappeared. We whispered stories without understanding what the words meant, didn't know who Somoza or Sandino were, or what colors represented what politics on the street. There was political graffiti everywhere, as they say, when the papers lie, the walls speak. Most of it was anti-US graffiti.
BM, correct and logical guess, but this was in Honduras, the staging ground for the US in its activities against the Nicaraguan Sandinista movement. The fate of my beautiful country makes me so sad. The people are warm, humble, generous, and hardworking. Now, infamous as having the highest murder rate in the world. I appreciate your empathy.
Posted 3 months ago # -
onederfullone
offlineMember"The Universe seems to protect those whom are defiant, rebellious underweight runts whose (figurative) balls are bigger than their size."
You speak of someone local?
Maybe National?
I would appreciate a response.
I've got some ideas.
Posted 3 months ago # -
biophile87
offlineMemberWell, I've grown since then, so my figurative balls are more in proportion with my size now, but I speak of me, both a local and a national, although not by birth. What mission have you got in mind?
Posted 3 months ago # -
onederfullone
offlineMemberBio, I respect you, my question was quite unfair.
"What mission have you got in mind?"
Mine, of course. I don't mean to discount yours. fwiw.
""The Universe seems to protect those whom are defiant, rebellious underweight runts whose (figurative) balls are bigger than their size.""
Again, I find this statement to be quite illustrative to a larger narrative, and just wanted to know if you see it, and if so, please share?
Posted 3 months ago # -
biophile87
offlineMemberYou will just have to wait for the book to come out, as do I.
;-)Posted 3 months ago # -
SmartsyArtsy
offlineMemberAwaiting your book. I must admit to never having heard first-hand stories of life in CA during that time.
Posted 3 months ago # -
Compass Rose
offlineMemberThat's some crazy stuff, Bio. I can imagine it saddens you that your country is now known for its status as murder capital of the world.
We were there in 2008. Spent a week in Copan, which was lovely, and then a week on Roatan. We had a great time and didn't run into any trouble, despite taking a couple of stupid risks, but San Pedro de Sula scared me. It's unnerving to go out for a bite and come back to find a guard with a pistol-grip shotgun standing on the corner outside. And even the locals told us not to stand on the main street waiting for a taxi, but to wait in front of the hotel instead.
Posted 3 months ago # -
biophile87
offlineMemberYikes, CR. SPS is the murder capital of the murder capital. Glad you went to Copan. It's magnificent. Did you check out Macaw Mountain Bird & Nature Reserve?
We also have Lenca ruins further southeast, near Celaque, and recently *might* have discovered the "White City" in La Mosquitia.
If you like more rugged travel, Utila is better than Roatan, and has the awesome Iguana Research Center, which focuses on conservation of Ctenosaura bakeri, the endangered swamper iguana, as well and conservation education in general..
Posted 3 months ago # -
Compass Rose
offlineMemberYeah, SPS freaked me out, particularly since there were hardly any people around on the streets. We had to walk down to an office to get bus tickets and both of us were really wary. There wasn't another tourist in sight.
We took a decrepit cab from there to the bus station to get a bus to Copan and I was amazed at the level of security just to get in to the bus station. I've never seen anything like it.
We did go to the Macaw reserve, which was beautiful. We stopped there on the way back from a hike through the mountains to a little village whose name escapes me. The landscape was gorgeous, climbing up through coffee plantations and through pine forests.
Utila sounds intriguing. I'd love to go diving there. The diving off Roatan was fantastic, and incredibly inexpensive. I was actually surprised by Roatan - I thought it would be more developed than it was.
Posted 3 months ago # -
biophile87
offlineMemberRuinas de Copan?
Roatan is as developed as I hope it gets. Utila is far less developed. It's a constant fight between environmentalists and the handful of landowners to preserve the mangroves for the sake of endangered species. Environmentalists are routinely murdered. Culprits are blatant and never prosecuted, as they own everything from the courts to the politicians to the newspapers and even the drug traffic for the region. I have to stop before I get all ranting and agitated, so I will stop with that.
Posted 3 months ago # -
iPlod
offlineMemberVery good examples of what happens when the government and corporations are in control and the populace is unarmed.
Posted 3 months ago # -
biophile87
offlineMemberUnarmed like a New Years Eve bullet shot in the air, breaking through a window, hitting my 8-year old cousin, or unarmed like my other 12-year old cousin shooting his friend by accident, or do you mean unarmed like my uncle being shot while at work, paralyzing him for life? In Honduras, unarmed means you only own a machete. No one is unarmed, especially now. I respectfully disagree with you, dearest iPlod. But you're probably just teasing, and I am now pre-agitated.
Signing off for this cycle. xxoo.
Posted 3 months ago #
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