No One Ever Wants to Recognize It, but It Keeps Coming Back

Evening dog walks usually clear my mind and restore my spirit, but this time it was different.

I was carrying a quiet sense of melancholy, and my dog Nanuk knew something was amiss in my stride and lack of enthusiasm.

When we reached our favorite tree, nicknamed the “Tree of Hope,” I slid onto a nearby park bench to collect my thoughts.

Earlier in the day, I examined a box of old WWII photos that my friend Joe loaned me. The photos were taken by Howard W. Cottle, who was a relative of Joe’s first wife.

Some of the photos were assembled in a tattered album. The black pages were frayed and brittle, but the photo captions were still legible and beautifully typed.

Flipping through the pages, reading the captions, and studying the vintage photos transported me to the past. When tyranny reared its ugly head, to destroy world order, and threaten democracies and peace.

Back then, our world descended into the hellscape of war, with its bombed-out cities, frightened masses, shell-shocked soldiers, and homeless refugees.

Well-meaning voices for peace, like Neville Chamberlain, tried to bargain with the devil.

But as Winston Churchill knew, the devil lies.

The inexorable periodicity of war

When I was a boy I often lingered in my father’s extensive library.

There was the entire collection of the Harvard Classics, as well as endless volumes on history, art, and literature.

Some books were quite arbitrary, such as “Handbook for the Nursing of Sick Children,” and Bernard Shaw’s “The Intelligent Woman’s Guide to Socialism and Capitalism.”

Some of my father’s books.

Sometimes I would randomly select a book and read the first few pages.

Often the content was over my head, but I liked hunting for my father’s notes in the margins. Other times I enjoyed discovering an interesting picture, sentence, or turn of a phrase.

One phrase that always stayed with me came from a history book by the late historians Will and Ariel Durant.

No one ever wants to recognize the inexorable periodicity of war.

I remember fetching a dictionary back then, to understand the big words. But with time and maturity, I came to understand the meaning of the sentence.

No one ever wants to recognize it, but war keeps coming back, in one form or another.

Flipping through Howard Cottle’s WWII photobook revealed some amazing images, such as the following pictures of Winston Churchill, with accompanying commentary.

Photograph taken when the Prime Minster, Mr. Winston Churchill flew from the U. S. A. to Bermuda at the conclusion of his visit and just prior to his trans-Atlantic flight to Great Britain. The crossing was made in the Boeing 314 flying boat ‘Berwick’ piloted by Commander Kelly Rogers, O. B. E., one of the senior pilots of the British Overseas Airways Corporation. The Prime Minister seen at the controls of the Flying Boat.

The photo below shows Churchill visiting armored units at Tel-El-Kebir in Egypt, with additional commentary by Howard Cottle below the photo.

During his stay in the Middle East, Mr. Churchill made a tour of inspection, visiting Armoured Units and addressing troops. Photo shows Mr. Churchill sitting well up in a truck to give the troops a better view. They gave him a vociferous welcome and the Prime Minister is here seen acknowledging the welcome with the ‘V’ sign.

Howard Cottle’s WWII photobook revealed all the familiar images of war. Battlefield debris of downed planes, destroyed buildings, and burning vehicles.

A crashed enemy plane recently shot down in the desert: This picture gives some indication of the devastating fire from our fighter aircraft.

A blazing Mark III tank left on the battlefield by the retreating enemy.

The photo book contained many sad images of the war dead. Both German and Allied soldiers. One cannot look at such images without feeling a deep sense of sorrow.

Such destruction and loss.

Attitude is a little thing that makes a big difference

After perusing the WWII photos and images, I took a lunch break and (regrettably) flipped on the TV.

I gave up Cable News a few years ago, having grown tired of the endless bickering and partisan noise. But on this day, I wanted to find out the latest developments in Ukraine.

Images of destroyed Russian tanks and bombed Ukrainian apartment buildings were eerily familiar to the WWII images I viewed earlier.

The news anchors talked about President Zelensky, who is a former television actor and comedian before becoming Ukraine’s sixth president.

Specifically, they spoke of Zelensky’s brave leadership. When asked about help fleeing the country to avoid assassination, Zelensky’s response was, “I need ammunition, not a ride.”

There is something Churchillian about Zelensky’s patriotism, bravery, and defiance in the face of overwhelming odds.

Attitude is a little thing that makes a big difference. — Winston Churchill

I had seen enough of the destruction and human suffering and switched the TV off. I texted a Ukrainian family friend, to ask how she is doing.

She replied that she has been in contact with family in Ukraine, who she is deeply worried about. I wished her and her relatives well.

It was dusk now, and the outside shadows seemed to fit my darkening mood.

Peace is our gift to each other

Whenever I fetch my jacket and hat the dogs know what’s coming next.

Nanuk, an Alaskan Klee Kai, is always ready for a walk. The smaller dog, a Pug/Chihuahua, sometimes opts for the couch, as he did on this chilly night.

Nanuk, my evening walking companion.

Nanuk loves to inspect every bush, likely to read what my wife calls “the pee-mail.” He also has a favorite fire hydrant, to leave his commentary for other canines to discover.

Nanuk’s favorite fire hydrant.

I wondered what my historian father would say about this new war in Ukraine, and mankind’s inability to avoid conflict.

“Why can’t we just achieve peace in this world?” I once asked Dad, when I was young and idealistic. His response was, “Whose peace?” His point is that peace living under a tyrant or repressive regime is a devil’s bargain.

Nanuk and I strolled past homes, their large windows revealing the glow of flat-screen TVs. Nearly all were set to the Cable News channels, with looping coverage of the war.

We reached our “Tree of Hope” and I took a seat on the adjacent park bench. Nanuk sweetly licked my hand, and for a moment I smiled thankfully for his unconditional affection.

Dogs are our link to paradise. They don’t know evil or jealousy or discontent. To sit with a dog on a hillside on a glorious afternoon is to be back in Eden, where doing nothing was not boring — it was peace. — Milan Kundera

My thoughts returned to those old WWII photos, and then to the growing tragedy in Ukraine.

How right Will and Ariel Durant were. We don’t want to recognize it. We’d rather forget. But war has a way of coming back.

I have written in the past about how art and creativity will save the world. I still believe that our longing for beauty reflects something divine in us.

But on this night, as I zipped up my jacket against the chilly evening air, I didn’t feel much like going home to paint or write. I realized that humanity has a long way to go.

Mankind must remember that peace is not God’s gift to his creatures; peace is our gift to each other. — Elie Wiesel

I bowed my head and said a little prayer. For Ukraine. For You. For me. For the day when all children laugh, strangers help one another, and nations value peace over domination.

To borrow from John Lennon: “You may say I’m a dreamer, but I’m not the only one.”

Before you go

I’m John P. Weiss. I draw cartoons, paint, shoot black & white photography, and write elegant essays about life. Get it all in my Saturday Newsletter here.

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This post was previously published on Medium.

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Photos by John P. Weiss