Written By Brad Harness
I recall when I was talking with my grandson. His mother had dropped him off at my condo and the boy was eager to do something - anything, really.
Being an aging bachelor, retired, I had plenty of things that interest a man of my age, but as for a boy of 13, not so much.
“Tell me a story, grandad,” the lad demanded.
I smiled at him, a thoughtful smile. “What sort of a story would you like to hear, George?”
He had been named after me! Go figure! I never thought his father cared for me that much. His mum - my daughter - well, she’s always been a daddy’s girl. And I guess she won out playing the ‘Name Game’ 13 years ago.
But her husband Reggie prevailed after that, and George’s younger brother had been named one of those newfangled names - Theo. Nice enough, but not in the family history. I would have chosen Charles or Russell, or something else.
“George, have you decided what sort of tale I will tell you?”
“Sure, grandad. Tell me about the time when everything…Changed.”
He had managed to surprise me. “How did you learn about that?”
“My Social Studies teacher at school, Mr. Phipps. He told us about it in a lesson just last week.”
“And you remembered what he told you?”
The boy nodded and smiled.
“Alright, then.” I took a deep breath while I collected my thoughts.
“There was a time, George, when the world was made up of several very large countries. Well…there was Russia - the largest by far - and Canada, the second-largest. And there was China, followed by the United States and after that Australia…”
“That’s a lot,” reflected George. “Was that all?”
“Was that all? No! There were many more large countries with lots of people and money and weapons. For the past 125 years there were big wars among those big countries. They all wanted to throw their weight around, have their say, and try to be in charge of planet Earth.”
George looked up at me.
“And how did it all turn out, grandad? Did any one of those big countries get what they wanted?”
I looked at the boy with adoration. “My boy, when they did, it was only short-lived. After that things fell apart and we were back at war once again.”
Next Month: Part 2
