That iconic photo of the London library after a Blitz attack was a postcard I bought many years ago while studying abroad in the UK. I don't recall why I bought it, but I've kept it on the wall at my desk everywhere I've gone. There's something so wonderfully powerful about seeing these men calmly perusing the library stacks amidst ruins from what was then a fairly routine bombing run at a time when it was far from clear that "the good guys" would win.
It's such a splendid 'fuck you' to the Nazis (or whomever your 'enemy' may be) to carry on living your life just as you were planning -- or better yet, enjoying it even more than you'd planned because it's in spite of the circumstances.
I've never been bombed, nor will I probably ever be, so it's always pretty easy to realize what kinda of life lottery ticket I've ended up with.
It's pretty amazing, but people do rapidly adjust to bombing or other high-ambient-threat environments, possibly overly much so. Still obviously worth avoiding.
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FWIW, that slogan wasn't quite ever used (thankfully, because it was for if the Nazis invaded Britain): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keep_Calm_and_Carry_On
That iconic photo of the London library after a Blitz attack was a postcard I bought many years ago while studying abroad in the UK. I don't recall why I bought it, but I've kept it on the wall at my desk everywhere I've gone. There's something so wonderfully powerful about seeing these men calmly perusing the library stacks amidst ruins from what was then a fairly routine bombing run at a time when it was far from clear that "the good guys" would win.
It's such a splendid 'fuck you' to the Nazis (or whomever your 'enemy' may be) to carry on living your life just as you were planning -- or better yet, enjoying it even more than you'd planned because it's in spite of the circumstances.
I've never been bombed, nor will I probably ever be, so it's always pretty easy to realize what kinda of life lottery ticket I've ended up with.
It's pretty amazing, but people do rapidly adjust to bombing or other high-ambient-threat environments, possibly overly much so. Still obviously worth avoiding.