If only there were enough people alive today who remember the horrifying cost of a global land war, which has broken out once again in eastern Europe. Those who might have been alive as children the last time total war broke out in Europe might be able to recall the horror of it all.
It was more than 80 years ago when Europe became engulfed in war. Virtually the entire continent was involved and the death count was incalculable.
Now, what does this mean to Russians and Ukrainians? It means that because of Vladimir Putin’s political ambition the two countries are likely to revisit the horror of that terrible long-ago era.
I should point out that Putin is too young to remember what his own country suffered when it fought against the invaders who sought to conquer what was known then as the Soviet Union. Perhaps it is possible he might have thought differently about seeking to re-take Ukraine had he any real-time knowledge of what his parents and grandparents endured during that global conflict.
U.S. Army Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman told us that “War is hell.” Indeed, there is nothing that compares to hell, but war comes as close as anything we humans can experience in our worldly lives.
We are watching a new war break out. Those who have experienced war up close are shuddering at the thought of Russians and Ukrainians fighting each other.
If only there were enough human beings alive today who remember the destruction that all-out war produces … then, we might have people in power who simply refuse to take us down that dangerous road to ruin.
If only …