On Veteran’s Day, let’s take the time to acknowledge the armed services veterans presently in our lives as well as the modern history of war, but let’s also stop to consider just how war disrupts our institutions.
It’s very hard to imagine even the possibility of someday going to, say, Mike Trout’s Baseball Reference page and finding an entire season entry on his career record blank, replaced with only the words “Did not play in major or minor leagues (Military Service)”, which you can see on Willie Mays’ record. War used to take center stage.