My maternal grandfather, who died at eighty, gently resisted all attempts to move him out of his home as he aged. He always said he wanted children coming to his door on Halloween, that he enjoyed talking to his younger neighbors about their jobs, and that the sound of the school bus reminded him daily of the importance of education.
I recently returned from a trip to a retirement village in Florida. In case you think that was for my 80-year-old self, it was not. It was a visit to my oldest daughter who is considering moving there. I am now old enough not only to have retired, but to have a daughter who is old enough to begin thinking about that stage of life.
Some of the most golden memories of our youth can become somewhat tarnished when examined many years later. One of the joys of my youth had been being read to by the adults in my life. I was introduced to The Wind in the Willows, Sherlock Holmes adventures, Ben Hur, A.A. Milne, a biography of Mary, Queen of Scots, and much, much more.
Right now, the world seems to be in the midst of wars. Currently, there is the invasion of Ukraine by Russia and the Israeli/Hamas conflict. In both struggles we are seeing homes and civilians, adults as well as children, killed. The nightly news is devastating.
It makes me think of the phrase, ‘the last good war,’ which is used to refer to World War II. I would like to say here that there can be necessary wars, defensive wars, and political wars but there are no ‘good’ wars.
Take a look at the two pictures beside this essay. They are both of my father. The first is his graduation picture from West Point where he placed third in his class. The next is just one year later, taken when he had become captain of a B-29 flying over the Himalayan Mountains to bomb Japanese held China. He is just short of his 23rd birthday and will be shot down over Manchuria in a few days.
Look at this young man’s face and see what war does. There are no ‘good’ wars.
My grandmother grew up in a very wealthy Chicago family. Her grandfather was one of the steel magnates of the late 1800s and early 1900s. wealthier and more productive than Andrew Carnegie at the height of his career. She was introduced in her youth to cultural events like the opera, the theater, and ballet.
