The young men of AmRev
Feb. 13th, 2025 09:55 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ceiswynWhat keeps surprising me about the young men of AmRev isn't how brave and daring they were. Young people without a sense of self-preservation are two a penny. What is really astonishing is their *competence*.
When I was 19, could I have charmed my way across the wilds of a foreign country, pretending to be a priest? I could not. When I was 19 or 21, could I have created and led a militia? I could not (though I could have drawn much better doodles in their pay book). When I was 20, could I have taken command of foreign troops and turned a potential rout into an ordered retreat? I could not. When I was 26, could I have persuaded two different countries to send desperately needed aid to support my country's war? Only if you wanted to be fighting said war on two whole new fronts.
What produced that level of maturity? Was it something in the water?
(Or could we, in fact, also have been that competent if we had been taught those skills, and required urgently to have them?)
When I was 19, could I have charmed my way across the wilds of a foreign country, pretending to be a priest? I could not. When I was 19 or 21, could I have created and led a militia? I could not (though I could have drawn much better doodles in their pay book). When I was 20, could I have taken command of foreign troops and turned a potential rout into an ordered retreat? I could not. When I was 26, could I have persuaded two different countries to send desperately needed aid to support my country's war? Only if you wanted to be fighting said war on two whole new fronts.
What produced that level of maturity? Was it something in the water?
(Or could we, in fact, also have been that competent if we had been taught those skills, and required urgently to have them?)
