THE DAY AFTER

The day after I was born,

German U boat 106 sank

a US tanker in the Gulf of

Mexico. Twenty-two were

killed. Hitler and his allies

had been winning World

War Two and it looked like

they were about to take

over the world. Including

the USA. Three years later

Germany surrendered and

the war in Europe was over,

followed pretty soon after

by the end of the war in the

Pacific. In my brief three

year old life the world had

witnessed the greatest

death and destruction in

the history of humanity. It

was tragic and deeply sad

but even so, great acts of

courage and kindness,

sacrifice and love were

committed, great art and

music and movies and

more were made. Nothing

anywhere near as massively

brutal and deadly has occurred

since. Despite continuing wars

and oppression, the world has

not in my now seventy-four

years ever been as peaceful

or as free as it is now. That’s

not to slight the severity of

anyone’s experience of

cruelty or repression, but

only to say as my old friend

Selby used to, that you

can’t have up without down,

success without failure,

pleasure without pain, dark

days without ones filled

with light. Let us be that

light for those who need it.

11/9/16

(C) Michael Lally