GRAND Magazine - November/December 2008 - (Page 58) Being the peace By MArC Hequet As we age, research shows we become calmer and more accepting. Can we pass that gift along? M y grAndson JustiCe And i were prowling his favorite urban landscape, the alley, when he turned to me and held out his arm. A yellow fluff crawled on his hand—a bumblebee. Brusquely I whisked it off, sweeping up the 2-yearold in my arms to look for the sting. Justice began to cry. I hurried him home to get ice. As I checked the hand, however—no sting. All of us—child, me, bee—had been calmly going about our business. When I brushed away the bee, however, Justice read the change perfectly. I was scared. He got scared too. As it turned out, we were all fine, including the bee. This is a story about finding peace—so let’s turn to war. In 1940 England was enduring weeks of German bombing. A British officer stationed in London sent his wife and children away for safety. Ten miles from any town, mother and children were amazed one day to see explosions in nearby fields. No one was hurt by the bombing gone astray. The explanation for the off-target raid long remained secret. Prime Minister Winston Churchill was among the few who knew the secret—and it was one reason he could maintain a sturdy self-assurance in those dark days. British intelligence knew the Nazis had developed a radio beam to guide German planes to targets at night or in bad weather—bad news for English cities. British scientists, however, soon found a way to “bend” the German radio beams. Bombers missed targets. Some completely missed cities. German fliers knew something was up but couldn’t spot it. Churchill told only a tight inner circle. “The very few who knew,” writes Churchill in his history of World War II, “exchanged celestial grins.” Churchill became prime minister in 1940 at age 65—kind of a grandfather to his generation. He had been through all this before, having been deeply involved in World War I. He had been in battle him- 58 GRAND NOVEMBER DECEMBER 2008
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