We're a cranky species. That's not going away any time soon. I've seen first hand what human beings can do to each other- good and bad.
Conflict is something we subconsciously need. For instance- Novels, TV, Media of any kind. There must be a protagonist, antagonist, conflict and challenges to overcome. Even the sappiest romance novel sets people and circumstances against one another.
I'm glad whenever I read articles like this. The last one I read was a few weeks ago on 4chan's /k/ channel so I don't have a link.
In the European theater of WW2 a B17 bomber and crew was returning from France after a bomb run. The plane had been shot to hell and back, with 3/4s of the crew dead or injured, 2 engines down, half the tail shot off, ect.
A ME-109 pilot came across the badly damaged bomber- which had fallen behind from the rest of the force. Slow and could barely maneuver- easy meat for the Luftwaffe pilot. He closed in, saw the condition of the ship and crew (the tail gunner was splattered over what was left of the tail) and he escorted them out into the English channel, then reported that he had shot down the plane.
The pilot of that Bomber couldn't sleep at night after the war- as much from what had happened here as the rest of what he'd been through, and he began writing the German government looking for records, rosters, ect. It took him until the early 90s but he actually located that 109 pilot.
They met in Germany and though so many years went by, they both cried like children hugging each other- old enemies, but sharing a bond that only people fighting for their lives share. That they were on the opposing sides didn't matter anymore.
Greatest Generation indeed
