Figure 1 – A London spotter watching for attacking planes during the Battle of Britain c1940. From the US NARA and in the public domain in the United States.

It is difficult to realize that both 100 and 70 years ago the world was locked in global war. There was an airshow in the United Kingdom last weekend to mark the seventieth anniversary of the Battle of Britain, when the Royal Air force ferociously defended their homeland against aerial attack. It was a precarious moment when Britain faced the real possibility of annihilation. It was fulcrum point for human civilization and as Winston Churchill said seventy years ago on 20 August 1940:

“Never was so much owed by so many to so few was a wartime speech made by the British Prime Minister “

In light of this, it always seems remarkable how quick we are to see war as a viable option.The current list of ongoing armed conflicts is truly staggering. I have neither explanations, solutions, or platitudes. I have only to say that there is a strange bearded man, whom I pass on my commute home. He stands on particularly conspicuous intersection with a handwritten anti-war sign. He stands there expressionless in all weather, which in New England can be quite an undertaking. We all think him crazy. But I have to wonder, who really are the crazy ones?