Choose Your Own Adventure: Historical Edition

It's a fact of life, humans love sad stories. When you think about it, what is history, but a series of unfortunate events, violence, destruction, and tragedies? But I think what really intrigues people is not the situations, but the reactions people have to those situations. 


I always wondered how I'd have handled myself had I been born in some other time and place. I already wrote about this a little bit on Independence Day, when I posed the question "Loyalist or Patriot?". I decided I'd be a Patriot, but I'd be quiet about it. But I'd like to explore the topic a little further.


I mean, I like to think that I'm just a naturally strong, tolerant, reasonable person, and my sense of justice and principles developed in utero. However, as I age I begin to suspect that this is not the case. At least some of it is bound to be the result of living in a more enlightened age.


Use your imagination for the next few minutes, and really try to put yourself in the shoes of your forefathers (and mothers!). Pretend (as best you can anyway) that you don't know how history turned out. 
I'd love to hear your answers too, so let me know what you think.


Question 1: Patriot or Loyalist?


Question 2: Imagine you are a white Southerner living at the time of the Civil War. Do you have slaves or are you an abolitionist? Are you too poor to have slaves? Are you for secession or against it? What if you lived in a border state? Whose side would you be on then?


Question 3: Now imagine (though none of us can with true accuracy) you're a slave in the days just before the Civil War. Would you try to escape, despite the fact that you have nothing and you know the Fugitive Slave Law is in full swing? Would you risk being punished or even killed? Would you try to revolt? 


Question 4: It's the late 1840s. People are talking about this awesome place called California. Do you go? What if you have a family?


Question 5: You're a woman at the turn of the 20th century. Are you for or against suffrage? I was surprised while reading through an old "Who's Who Among American Women" that many women were against suffrage. Some thought voting was just not something women needed to be involved in. Others felt that until women had obtained the same level of education as their male counterparts, they should not have the vote.


Question 6: You're English and are alive during the seventeenth century. Whatever your religious persuasion, you are being persecuted by the government. Life is unpleasant, but you've been hearing about people who are moving to the colonies. Life there will be equally unpleasant, but for totally different reasons. Do you hop on the next boat to North America? Do you suck it up and convert? Do you stand your ground and risk angry kings?


Question 7: It's the height of the Great Depression. The primary breadwinner of the family is out of work (is it you, your spouse, your parent?) It's entirely possible you will lose everything. What do you do? Turn to crime? Throw yourself off the Empire State Building? Join one of the New Deal programs (the CCC, WPA, CWA, etc.)? Become a hobo?


Question 8: WWII has just begun. You are a bright-eyed young person, in college or just beginning a career. What do you do? Guys, do you join up as soon as possible? Do you wait to be drafted? Ladies, do you join the WAVEs or the WAC, or some other branch open to women? Do you take a defense job like Rosie the Riveter? Take up nursing? Or do you just keep the home fires burning and help out wherever you can?


Question 9: Stay in the years leading up to WWII, but hop across the Atlantic. You're German. Blonde hair, blue eyes, the works. If you keep your mouth shut, you're in no danger of being persecuted. Membership in Nazi programs like the Hitler Youth is mandatory. Remember, the War hasn't started yet. It's only just becoming clear that the Fuhrer has radical changes in store for Germany. Persecution is already beginning. You have reached the fork in the road. You're not Jewish or Gypsy or Communist. Do you embrace Hitler's plans wholeheartedly, "heiling" every chance you get and goose stepping everywhere you go? Do you just go along with it all in public to keep out of the concentration camps, but secretly listen to the BBC and break other little rules? Do you do what you can to help your Jewish friends, even if it means taking some pretty big risks? Do you resist the Nazis because you disagree with their politics or because your loyalty is to your country; not a person or a political party? Or do you join the Resistance, determined to sabotage the Nazis every chance you get, blowing stuff up or participating in espionage? 


Question 10: It's the 1950s in the South. You all know what that means- Civil Rights. If you're white, where do you stand on integration? If you were black, would you want to go to an integrated school, even if it meant being treated like dirt, even threatened with violence?


Question 11: It's the 1960s. You are a young college student. Too bad the Vietnam War is escalating. What do you do? Do you enlist? Do you only go if drafted? Are you a conscientious objector? Are you a draft dodger? Do you join the anti-war movement and protest peacefully? Do you tend to gravitate to the more extreme segments of the movement, hanging out with your Abbie Hoffman types and participating in riots on campus? Or are you a member of the Silent Majority? Are you a straight up hippie, worshipping Timothy Leary, hanging out in the Haight-Ashbury, dropping acid, and joining a commune?


I know, I know, it's not Oregon Trail, but still, it's something to think about. Let me know what you would do, or if I missed any scenarios!