Interesting…. well, to me at least. Over 70 years since it ended, World War II is still “The War.” Often they will say, “What did your grandfather do in the war?” Or, “During the war….” followed by whatever the fact is someone wishes to convey. It is understood, almost universally, that the person is talking about WWII. In the intervening decades there have been other wars…Korea, Vietnam, The Gulf War, and many others whose shear numbers suggest a near constant state of conflict someplace in the world.
Even World War I, once known as “The Great War” very rapidly lost its significance in the public mindset. Yet in similar spans of time, WWII has retained its place in the collective consciousness. Part of this is without a doubt, the magnitude of the second world war and its lasting effects on technology, geopolitics, the roles of women in the workforce, and many other aspects of life.
Another part, however, is the record and media. World War II was simply far better documented than any war had been before. Documentary photographers and war correspondents created an amazing record of what happened–often at great personal risk. Afterall, those scenes you find of men storming the beaches heading right up to the photographer’s vantage point required the photographer–armed with only a camera-to storm that beach ahead of his comrades and be in the line of fire between attacker and defender. No small feat! Yet this record exists, along with a treasure trove of movies and old radio shows of the period with their appeals to listeners to buy war bonds or to ration their meats and save their used cooking fats, conserve fuel, etc. In this day and age, it seems almost impossible to a people who are accustomed to having all they want when they want…almost otherworldly in a way…the idea that one had to be careful with one’s resources……..”make it do or do without” as was once said.
Today’s call to “repair, reuse, repurpose, or recycle” is a similar battle cry against an enemy more abstract yet no less hazardous to our well-being. ….and it is another important lesson that we can learn from how things were during The War.