I understand what you're saying Argosy, but I do believe as adults it behooves us to separate fantasy from reality; because the former can easily cause harm.
As children, we accept many fantasies such as the Tooth Fairy, Santa Claus, etc. but in due time we take an intellectual step forward and discard them. (Unfortunately, for many, that's their final step forward.)
You note that you were "told what to believe" when young, and that some of that follows you through life. BINGO! This is why the higher-level fantasy of religion persists, generation after generation.
Humans have an insatiable curiosity; they always have. One can only imagine the questions children (and adults) had 10, 20, or 50 thousand years ago. Having no science, early people (in order to prevent insanity) had to invent an ever longer list of "causes and effects" to explain the physical world.
Consider this:
Modern-appearing humans originated in Africa about 200,000 years ago.
Full modern behavior began about 50,000 years ago (also the origin of religion.)
Agriculture began about 9,000 years ago.
Writing (text) began about 4 to 5,000 years ago..
Mathematics began in Babylon and Egypt about 3,000 years ago.
The concept of the number "zero" came into being in India just 1,200 years ago.
And modern science? It began only 468 years ago! (With Copernicus' thesis that the earth goes around the sun.)
So... what about society today? The Middle East is crippled by religion; Europe is free of it; and we in the U.S. are stuck in the middle ground - somewhere between the scientific method of thinking and bronze age mythology (Christianity.)
Abandoning the Tooth Fairy is easy, because adults allow it. But abandoning religion - whoa! I know people who'd just as soon die as leave their beloved church world. And this my friend is the result of mental child abuse; the daily force-feeding of bronze age ideology down the throats of modern children.
Let me suggest it is NOT okay to simply "believe" in things. Modern societies will advance when and only when they accept fact over fiction. Belief should be backed by evidence, not mythology. That millions of us reject modern science so boldly and blatantly is a sad state of affairs; one that leads me to believe we will not be leading the future world. This is the COST of believing without evidence. Those who claim religion is "harmless" are not great thinkers.
On a more pleasant note; I too remember the "duck and cover" of the Cold War. During my earliest school years we'd go under our desks but that soon evolved to leaving the classroom, lining up against the hallway walls, then scrunching our small bodies into little balls with our hands covering our heads....all with that darned klaxon blaring in our ears!
I very much doubt the teachers were lying to us then because they too were probably unaware the true results of a nuclear strike. And when you get down to it - duck and cover actually would work if you were far enough away from the blast. (My elementary school was within 1 mile of Washington, D.C. and would have been vaporized, LOL!)
Tim in NC
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