Lest We Fail To Remember: September 1, 1939

...in which the world plunged into madness. Officially, the war ground to a halt in August of 1945. OS is the son of a Marine who was being prepared for the ground invasion of Japan. In the wake of the battle for Okinawa, which claimed so many lives, the estimates were that it would require many many more men, and the campaign would stretch into 1947 or so.

So, that horror was avoided by the use of another horror, the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and here sits OS, pecking away as a result.

(No, he's not guilty of that horror, but he is a bit haunted by the thought that he is its beneficiary.)

It was madness, completely avoidable madness. A world deciding that 1914-1918 had not spilled enough blood, that a do-over was necessary.

And, after August 1945, we found ourselves in a world forever on the verge of war, mainly in the name of some Utopian scheme or another, be it racial, religious, political, economic, national, or some toxic blend of elements of the list. For the most part, at least here, not outright war, but most certainly an uneasy quasi-peace.

So, here we sit, seventy-two years later, praying for wisdom and grace to not be dragged down that dark tunnel once more. As the parent of a young man, watching other young men born in his same year, returning in coffins to shattered parents, OS prays for mercy for us all; that somehow Providence will provide us grown-ups in positions of leadership, sober souls who understand (and care) that the decisions they make mean death or life for millions.