Oh, I love this guy(doesn't everybody)

This sweet old man reminds me of my grandparents. Whenever I get to see them I love trying to get them to tell me stories about the World War II era. My dad's parents were in Paris at the time. A couple of years back they told me about it. It sounded horrendous, having to live under Nazi rule for 5 years. The sirens, the fear, the lack of resources... Hearing those kinds of stories makes me realize how lucky we are to be living in a relatively peaceful and stable society. The next time I see them I'll have to ask more about it, I don't feel like I know the whole story.

My other grandparents were in the south of France. As my grandmother tells it my grandfather tried to organize some resistance fighters, but it ended in catastrophe. Some of the guys my grandfather was with started shooting at the Nazi planes and ended up getting mowed down because they gave away their location. I guess guerrila warfare has gotten way more sophisticated these days.

I think it's sad that Europe had to go through two devestating wars like it did in the 20th century. The world lost a lot of great minds and talent through all the killing, not to mention the scale of suffering endured by so many. Maybe it had to take two terrible, crippling wars for the fighting to actually stop and buck the trend of previous European history.