Alan and I used to wonder,
“Why hasn’t the world been able to forget World War 2 and move on?” 
That is, until we visited the west coast of France
and saw that their rugged coastal resort areas 
are still pitted with corroding remnants of that terrible war. 
Sure, most of the towns have been rebuilt,
but the Normandy Coast will never be the same, 
from the honeycomb of German bunkers 
and hillsides pocked with holes left by bombs, 
to the people who have memories of their world being torn apart
by explosions and invaders. 
There’s a hush fallen over that sacred twilight zone. 
People need to grieve their pain, but I don’t know how long. 
After returning home, Alan and I watched a 13-hour British documentary series on the war called World War 2 in HD Colour. 
When we were growing up in the Fifties, nobody really talked about the war,
and now I understand why at a deeper level. 
It was utterly, unspeakably evil and awful. 
The documentary covers the four major fronts: Western and Eastern Europe,
the North African campaign, and the Pacific War. 
Even though I knew some of the facts (from being a history major in college), 
seeing footage and commentary gave me a whole new perspective, 
and after we’d seen it all, I came away with some PTSD and this new insight:
As surely as no man is an island, no war has a winner. 
Weren’t we all created to be free? If so, then isn’t it wrong to conquer another human being? Aggression is wrong. It’s coveting our neighbor’s possessions.
Defending yourself is morally acceptable, but revenge is wrong, and it seems beyond normal human capacity to keep from returning at least some evil for evil.
That makes winning a sour victory, because at best you may be stopping evil from overtaking you, but at an incalculable cost in lives and lands.
And, at worst you’ll be so angry that you’ll end up oppressing your enemies,
falling to the temptation of also doing evil.
War has no winners. It destroys and devastates, and the “spoils” are spoiled. 
Lord, please help us end all this senseless fighting & restore our world to peace. 
Restrain aggression, destruction and evil, 
and give those who defend themselves great grace to resist revenge,
even when it’s within their power. 
“Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord” (Romans 12:19).
(Photos 2-9 and the last one are mine, taken in France, May 2016. The rest are from World War 2 in HD Colour and other sources. It’s a terrifying documentary, but if you ever wonder why the world doesn’t forget and “just move on,” it will give you unforgettable insight. It’s also increased my motivation to reject war as an option for settling world problems.)
Very moving post