His grandson, who brought the book up to the Sixties, wrote, “Mankind is a creature of habit and slow to learn from its mistakes.” Twenty years after WWI, those who started the next war hoped for a quick, violent and profitable victory. “Instead they were defeated and their cities suffered great destruction and their governments bankruptcy. But the victors suffered as much if not more” – ruin, internal strife, and their leadership shifted in an uneasy peace. Not what I wanted to hear.

May I be an April Fool and add my two cents about Will Smith’s fiasco at the Oscars? Why do we expect others to be perfect? Half the country’s on edge about one tinder box or another and he lost it. That happens. Why would anyone in Hollywood NOT need an anger management course? Maybe he and Chris Rock could take it together, along with the Academy Board.

On the positive side, The Christian Science Monitor Weekly (March 21) showed a vivid overhead shot of a march in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in support of Ukraine. A Points of Progress brief hit the spot again about formerly extinct anteaters making a comeback in the wilderness in Argentina. My favorite brief was on dead batteries being processed into black sludge, having certain elements removed, and then being repurposed as fertilizer for wheat, barley, oats, tomatoes and avocados! Wow. Several countries including Finland, England, Italy and the United States are using it.

April First blog post. https://rokeefehistory.com/blog #amreading; #RochesterNY; #HendrikvanLoon; #WillSmith; #ChrisRock; #theOscars; #CSM;