The sky was beautiful today, with brief moments of windy snow coming down interspersed throughout a generally clear day. Classes are starting and I am so glad to be in my last semester of them.

However, the main thing on my mind is the death of historian Howard Zinn. I read his People's History of the United States over and over. His depictions of regular people doing extraordinary things over and over (stories buried by mythologies of "heroes" and "leaders" in regular history books) was incredible to me. All throughout history, there are stories of horrible things. Yet despite all odds, there are always people working to do amazing things to improve everyones' lives and make the world a better place. Everything is against them and they still try. It's a beautiful fact.

He also wrote about being a bomber pilot in World War II, and how that drove him to become a peace activist. He later found out he had bombed an entirely civilian town, in an act of what could only be considered pure terrorism. If the war regarded as the epitome of a just and good war was a lie, what did that mean about war in general? How could it ever be anything but a drive for power, directed by the powerful but suffered by the poor (the majority).

It made me very sad... but he was 87 and his wife had died in 2008. I saw him speak about 6 or 7 years ago and he was incredible. It's sad but I imagine it would be hard to go on for long after one's lifelong spouse has passed. I suppose it's just the nature of things.