Remember

 "On the one hand, he was an uncouth embarrassment, a feral clod hardly to be taken seriously.  On the  other hand, he was the legal head of their beloved country, to whom they had sworn oaths.  For most of these men he presented some kind of obscene Chinese puzzle."

You get two guesses as to whom this is about -- and the second one doesn't count. I did change one word in that quote so as to not give away the answer.  I'd bet most people my age guess correctly.  I'd also bet most people under 30 wouldn't.  WWII ended 78 years ago.  Young people know as little today about Hitler as you and I know about Kaiser Wilhelm II.  And trust me, I don't know anything about Kaiser Wilhelm II. (I didn't even know he was the second.)

My point is:

2023 - 78 = 1945 (the end of WWII)

1988 (when I was 30) - 78 = 1910 (just before WWI) 

The whole problem with humankind is we don't remember the things we should, nor forgive the things we could.

Remember, WWI was "the war to end all wars".  21 years after that, we fought another one.  But this time, we made peace.  Germany and Japan are now counted as our greatest allies.  This is a lesson to learn.

In case you wonder where I got the quote I started with, I've written a few things over the years.  Some of them are worth reading.

Oh yeah.  Here's a picture that actually has something to do with the subject at hand.

Don Brown
August 6, 2023