tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8333594380363882958.post7860738536705699755..comments2023-08-28T03:19:34.617-07:00Comments on It's Nelly's World: Not a ThemeMelissa Holbrook Piersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15617752678155038816noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8333594380363882958.post-71819463146684017662011-12-01T17:50:59.789-08:002011-12-01T17:50:59.789-08:00Seeing the gleam in my boy's eye as he talks a...Seeing the gleam in my boy's eye as he talks about arms--both light and field artillery, and swords too!--I wish again I was a boy. I spent my childhood wishing that, too. But I am merely a boy wannabe. Thus, arms are art to me.Melissa Holbrook Piersonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15617752678155038816noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8333594380363882958.post-26204385985196152212011-12-01T11:40:13.801-08:002011-12-01T11:40:13.801-08:00I suppose I must have been the same Mellissa, alon...I suppose I must have been the same Mellissa, along with millions of other boys in the era post dulceet decorum est pro patria more. As a boy I was fascinated with combat aircraft and battleships, submarines and tanks. Not light arms at all - maybe a symptom of growing up in Australia where guns are not everyday items. I can still appreciate the beauty of a Mark IX Spitfire, or HMS Vangaurd, or a de Havilland Mosquito, yet I know what they are for. To kill and destroy. But also to keep safe by deterrence in some respects. Hunting for me - well I was a member of a bowhunting club but never shot a thing - just field. Though my freinds took rabbits and ate them (as Dad did in the tough times in the 1940s..)Scott in Devonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8333594380363882958.post-42532555196238315932011-11-28T06:37:23.627-08:002011-11-28T06:37:23.627-08:00Charles, as always, nailed the experience here in ...Charles, as always, nailed the experience here in a single idea: controlling the otherwise uncontrollable.<br /><br />It's why we ride, too. Or at least part of it. The rest is impossibly complicated. And to me, teasing apart the million threads of life's weird complexities is a joy I wouldn't want to live without. I won't have to, either: I'll never get to the bottom of it, even if I lived to be a million. Which I wouldn't want to do. Hence, guns and motorcycles. <br /><br />And back again to the beginning of the circle.Melissa Holbrook Piersonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15617752678155038816noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8333594380363882958.post-83666574717657158062011-11-27T09:47:40.723-08:002011-11-27T09:47:40.723-08:00give me warning next trip out, and we can arrange ...give me warning next trip out, and we can arrange a visit to the target range. whence paper, not people is shot, precise aim is valued over random death, and? and? it's fun to control things that go "BOOM"cstatmanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00217901395454107751noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8333594380363882958.post-35816348943766562732011-11-27T07:37:22.467-08:002011-11-27T07:37:22.467-08:00An apparent conundrum, sure, but I return to the c...An apparent conundrum, sure, but I return to the cliche: guns don't shoot people/animals; the person pulling the trigger does. It is possible to enjoy the mechanical structure and prowess of these machines. (I don't, but can see how others, like you and your son, do.)<br /><br />As you frequently note, life is a lot more complicated than our society's easy answers describe.Shybikerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15263331247319768989noreply@blogger.com