“It is vain to recall the past unless it works some influence upon the present.” –Charles Dickinson

D-Day on the shores of France, 80 years ago

After 80 years why does the memorial celebration continue to touch hearts across nations? The memory feels raw as I relate the event to my father who fought as a teenager in World War II. Only now in the later season of my life do I fully understand the impact of young people dropped into war. Trauma upon trauma piled up on humanity.

Revolutions, the Civil War, World Wars, I and II, Korea, Viet Nam, Ukraine, Israel/Hamas. A mechanistic system exists that keeps on heaping terror, pain, suffering and hopelessness that seeps like poison into the hearts and minds of humans who either remember or push away the memories with self-soothing means to not remember.

Is it possible to reach a pivot point realizing the costs of war are too costly? Might we under-developed, amateur humans evolve to a threshold of co-creating resourceful choices and decision making?

What if we turned power upside down to literally mean power to the people? It is in our hands. Locally, state by state, nationally and ultimately globally. Who are we? Who can we become? Groping for hope during current world circumstances, I am holding to deep gratitude, respect and honor for those who have gone before to birth and strengthen democracy. It’s a start.