Fallout shelters and other lessons from our pasts

These times remind me in certain ways of the era of fallout shelters, when people built a safe shelter in case of a nuclear disaster. You likely have heard about this or lived through this period from the late 1950s through the early '70s. Both periods of time involved uncertainty, anxiety and fear.

Of course, the pandemic is a different sort of threat. But with our current sheltering in safety, today has similarities with the Cold War era. For instance, we have stocked up on provisions, medications and water, and have figured out many indoor amusements and activities to occupy ourselves while sheltered.

When I was a child, I recall one family in my small hometown up in northern Minnesota who actually built a fallout shelter, buried in their backyard. It was a large steel vault with beds, a kitchenette, food, games to play, batteries, lanterns, etc. I think it was about 1958 as the post-World War II standoff with the old Soviet Union was underway. For most of us, Russia seemed a long way away from Minnesota. But of course, the threat was constantly covered on the TV and radio news.

A couple years ago, I ran across an interesting and amusing old movie from the 1980s called "Blast from the Past" about fallout shelters. This movie does not sound funny but it was a spoof about a family who lived in a huge underground shelter. I saw a rerun on TV. Anyway, it popped into my mind today.

The father in the movie, a scientist, built a fallout shelter underneath his ranch-style house in California. This was not a typical fallout shelter, but one that was an exact replica of the ranch house above it; he figured his wife and small son could survive a nuclear bomb in it.

When there was a big plane crash near their neighborhood, he thought it was a nuclear attack so the family went underground and sealed the shelter with the time-locked, vault-like steel door. They then were completely sequestered there for the next 35 years.

The amusing part was how they lived, and how they were quite content. They watched old TV shows and old movies on video, ate 1950s-type comfort food, all home cooked, of course. Their pantry and household supplies were stocked for 35 years. They played board games and cards for family entertainment. Their only child had been just a toddler, who grew up loved and happy, albeit indeed sheltered and quite naive in the ways of the world outside.

There are actually some ideas and lessons we can learn from this silly movie. And I'm certainly not trying to minimize the tremendous hardships and sadness of our current pandemic situation. Nor am I forgetting the unbelievable bravery and fantastic hard work being done by our health care workforce - doctors, nurses, medics and all the first responders, service and delivery people who are helping the rest of us.

However, this is for those of us who are living in the relative comfort and safety of our own homes and apartments. We must keep our present state of affairs in perspective. So called "quarantine fatigue" is real and unpleasant, and it's getting intense for many after three months (already).

We miss our friends and family. We've sadly missed special events that have been canceled and are facing a summer and fall with no festivals, no big parties or weddings. We can't even have a normal funeral or memorial service, so all this is particularly hard on the bereaved.

Lately I've heard some people say this "stay at home" period has some advantages - benefits beyond safety. For some, working from home is a nice relief from commuting to work. It's even a chance to slow down if you usually have a super busy schedule. I know I was scheduled-up solid except for Wednesdays and some weekend days. Although I enjoy every single one of my personal pre-pandemic activities, I am oddly fine with this slower pace for a while. Many are enjoying more family time. I'm enjoying seeing favorite late night TV comedians involving their children and wives in their broadcasts from home "studios," aka their basements, attics, home offices.

And think of this: Most of us have supplies, electricity, TV, telephones and many other communication options - laptops or home computers, smartphones or tablets.

We can order home delivery of food and medications, and almost anything else. The internet is a great source of information, entertainment, shopping, music, on and on. The post office is still delivering and accepting mail. The banks are still open for drive-through business. We can still go to the grocery store.

We have our pets with us and plenty of at-home amusements and projects. We are not in a fallout shelter or facing a nuclear bomb standoff.

Summer is arriving and this opens a whole new range of safe yard and garden activity. We have many advantages compared to the fallout shelter era or hardships faced by our parents and grandparents of the Depression and WWII generations.

The point is: We have many reasons to stay calm over current restrictions and to concentrate on pulling together so we all get through this, however long it takes. Social distance, masks and stay-at-home time not only helps yourself, but protects others. Happy summer!

• Susan Anderson-Khleif of Sleepy Hollow has a doctorate in family sociology from Harvard, taught at Wellesley College and is a retired Motorola executive. Contact her at sakhleif@comcast.net or see her blog longtermgrief.tumblr.com. See previous columns at www.dailyherald.com/topics/Anderson-Kleif-Susan.