I presume that most of the readers of this thread are reading the companion thread: What Would We Choose To Do If... a thread about life after death.

It includes dialogue--BTW, it is non-judgmental and there is no dogma--about what we believe, and don't believe, about life after death, including what we think of REINCARNATION. Feel free to join us there, or add your comments in this thread.
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With an open mind regarding reincarnation, I told a story--and it is a story, not a history--about the kind of life I feel, intuitively, that I lived before this one. Then I concluded by relating it to the kind of life I have lived in this present time.

My recent comments are as follows: Thus I was born, Jan.14--it was a cold and crisp day--1930. We were in the midst of depression and on the verge of a world war in which, in 1940, We became part of the Battle of the Atlantic until 1945.

I was the seventh child of a family which had to live without many of the common comforts of life. My family was one which did not need another child to feed and care for at that time.

But I wasn't the last in the family. Number eight, a sister, was born in 1932. But it wasn't all a negative experience. I imagine that Life in the outdoors, during the depression, was much better than life in some crowded city was. We had one luxury which many other many out-port Newfoundlanders did not have: Courtesy the DOSCO mining company, we had electricity (just the basics: lights and radio). The privileged few had phones.

Courtesy the churches (Roman Catholic and Protestant), there were two movies houses. Interestingly, St. Patrick's Theater gave us the B Movies--the Cowboy movies (Gene Autrey, Roy Rogers and the like. Also, there were the serials. The Princess Theater, run by the Protestants, gave us the A movies--Mutiny On The Bounty, Gone With the Wind and the like.

THE USE? OF WAR
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World War II brought full employment to Bell Island. Before 1939, because of frequent slowdowns and layoffs, most of the 10,000 people (including 2,100 miners) on http://www.bellisland.net were forced to live in third-world conditions. We survived by our wits.

Guess what? Because we were smarter than the average salmon, cod, lobster and other ocean delicacies, we were "forced" to survive at their expense. And we had fun doing it. But red meat and pork, including the heavily salted kind, were considered luxuries.

Believe it or not: In the spring, my older brothers and I, used to hunt young sea gulls. If one liked the fish-like taste, the stews were great. The Kings did own a family-built boat. The brother who helped raise my younger sister and I--he died at 92 in 2004--knew a lot about a boat building. Frequently, I was called on to help. Ours had a five horsepower in-board motor. Many in the community shared the use of that boat.

At times, if we could afford the ammunition, there were wild rabbits to hunt. When ammunition was scarce we often snared them. It was expected that I do my share skinning the rabbits and the gulls. Also there were ducks and other species.

Over the years, the King family kept goats, pigs and hens as part of the food supply. I realized that it was necessary to kill these animals for food, but because I never had the instincts of a hunter, I alway dreaded it. For me, it was a cruel necessity.

I am not sure why; perhaps it was a matter of being able to afford the costs involved, but our family never owned a horse, a cow, a bicycle, or a car. A few others did. Milk, butter (we called margarine, butter) cream, cheese, and the like, were considered to be luxuries.

Looking back, my sister-- one and one-half years younger than I--and I agree: We both had fun growing up because of the help we got from our older siblings, after our parents died. Our oldest brother and sister died in their 20's.

I was the fifth son in our family. Our next older brother was ten years older than me, and our sister was older still. Both of us acknowledge that in our older siblings we had good teachers who showed us the art of surviving in tough times. My sister and I lost our parents while we were still children. We both appreciate our good fortune in having older siblings who kept the family together until we were old enough to look after ourselves.

It would be interesting to hear the story of others.

Last edited by Revlgking; 06/24/08 02:29 AM.

G~O~D--Now & ForeverIS:Nature, Nurture & PNEUMA-ture, Thanks to Warren Farr&ME AT www.unitheist.org