[He's a bit shocked about hearing all of this, because it was never something he had to worry about as a kid. His friends in school knew who he was and what he could do. It was a handy excuse for why he disappeared for days and then months and weeks during the war until he eventually dropped out.]

That's...terrible. They shouldn't have blamed you when you were just protecting yourselves. [Even though he knows it happens a lot more often than people think.] People used to talk about Pappy--Jim that way, too. But he sure showed them and now he's one of the biggest known heroes in the world. Didn't make that they were jerks right, but it made him really determined to show them up and prove how wrong they were.

I'm sorry that it doesn't look like times have changed that much.