My guess would be: When loading your resource from the debugger player, the operation finishes instantly, and thus firstParameter is available when your anonymous listener function is called, but when running the swf elsewhere, the load operation takes longer, and then the reference to firstParameter is lost, since it is a local variable.
I cant really gove you an answer,but what I can give you is a way to a solution, that is you have to find the anglde that you relate to or peaks your interest. A good paper is one that people get drawn into because it reaches them ln some way.As for me WW11 to me, I think of the holocaust and the effect it had on the survivors, their families and those who stood by and did nothing until it was too late.