It's Not What We Would Choose to Do

Reading world history books has been a hobby of mine possibly from the day (as a child) I asked our mother if she had been around for 'the War Between the Blue and Gray.' Somehow, even then, I knew instinctively to not inquire of our father.

I've often been frustrated by how frequently in this country we seem to have no knowledge of, and little interest in, our own history and we are a relatively speaking young country so it's not like there's five thousand years of dynastic rule to ponder, as they have in China. Still we have the same sense of history as a cat.

In my lifetime I've seen the final demarcation in terms of historical epochs, digital and pre-digital. Everything is possible in the digital era to include things that aren't real (how I tend to understand virtual reality). Meanwhile poster child of the pre-digital era, I can still easily remember rotary dial phones, three over the air television stations, dad adjusting the rabbit ears to get the game just right and afternoon editions of hometown newspapers.

I can also remember the neighbor up the street talking about World War II (us kids knew all about that one from the TV show, Combat, with Vic Morrow and Rick Jason only to find out later we didn't know sh--anything). I think we knew instinctively, because of the "II," there was a "I" floating around and I've read enough biographies of Woodrow Wilson to sense the enormity of the carnage of The War to End All Wars, that didn't but helped create a world of animus that has survived to this day.

Someone not mentioned, at least not until she died Tuesday as (presumably) the last person to have served in the military, in anyone's military, during World War I, was Florence Green. She wasn't a President or a Prime Minister, an Admiral or a General, but without her and literally tens of millions of others just like her, none of the wars we wage against one another could be fought. She was 111 years of age.

You might imagine that with so many countries worth dying for, at least a similar number could also be worth living for, and yet, the monuments and medals suggest this thought rarely occurs. Haven't you heard it's a battle of words, the poster bearer cried. Listen son, said the man with the gun, there's room for you inside.
-bill kenny