A War Photo Essay from a U.S. Marine On Finding Beauty Amidst the Ugliness of War and Life

No matter how dark things become, light remains.

Girl in the fertile crescent-Central Iraq in March 2003 — Photo by author

This is a different kind of war story. It’s not about politics or death or pain or even right and wrong. It’s not about oil or conspiracy or revenge. It’s not about the mental toll war takes on those who live through it. It’s not about the ugliness of humanity.

It’s about the everlasting beauty in people and nature despite this ugliness.

It’s about how that beauty shines in war more brightly than in normal times, just as stars look brighter in a darker sky or flowers more colorful growing through the ashes of forest fires.

This beauty can be found on your life’s battlefields too.

My Grandfather’s Lesson from World War 2

My grandfather was a navigator on a bomber during World War 2. He had to bail out behind enemy lines. He was saved by local French partisan farmers. When I was a child, my grandfather once told me:

“It’s not the average people of other countries who hate each other. We’re all very much the same and want the same things. It’s the leaders at…