December 7. Pearl Harbor Day. I’m old enough to remember the Big War. Or the consequences at home. The piles of metal collected by the railroad tracks to be hauled off and made into weapons or tanks. The lack of things. The reviled word “Hitler” on people’s lips. The celebration when it was all over in 1945.

Now my grandchildren remember September 11. The soldiers who served in Iraq and came home to say that being there was a lose-lose situation. The disgust, not for the enemy, but for our own government. In 60 years, what will their memories be?

Please leave a comment with your first 50 words on the topic “the big war.”