We Go To The War Museum

The Imperial War Museum is just across the park from St. Georges, so it was the obvious destination for the day. This edifice has six floors of galleries which discuss World Wars I and II primarily but also conflicts between and after in which Britain has been formally involved. The girls expressed reservations about visiting, but in the end, it was their parents who insisted on leaving, exhausted by the barrage of questions which were shot at us with increasing velocity as we continued through the exhibits. The girls were fascinated by the experience of the more than 2,000,000 children who were evacuated from London during the Second World War. They studied gas masks with great interest. We went inside a World War I trench and found it to be much like a small city. We studied bombs and airplanes and talked about the roles of our grandparents and great grandparents in various conflicts. We tried to make up a year's wardrobe using ration coupons. Dad's supply list equalled 56 coupons--16 more than the 40 allowed, but Mom was positively profligate at 90. The Olivia took a turn and to her horror racked up a whopping 99, forcing her to return more than half of her "essentials" We learned sobering things about the Kaiser and Hitler, the Tsar and Stalin, the Holocaust, Germany, Russia and the Cold War. When we got home tonight, Olivia asked, "Dad, why do people make wars anyway?" Not knowing what else to tell her, I told her that wars are about taking power or defending yourself against people who want to take power from you. She sniffed contemptuously and said, "Wars are stupid. We should just have peace." Can you really disagree?