Veterans' Day and Armistice and Peace

This morning, at 11 AM on 11/11/11, I did something I have done at that time on 11/11 since I was six years old. I took two minutes to meditate on those who fought in war and on the lives lost in war. I thought especially of the veterans of the World Wars and more recent wars but I could not keep my thoughts from all of the conflicts throughout time.  These include nameless conflicts going well back into prehistory, the evidence of which exists only in the archeological record. Our kind has long had a capacity for violence.  I would like to hope that we have, not an equal capacity for peace, but a greater one. I would like to hope that we could develop this capacity.  Perhaps someday the Armistice will be permanent and we, humanity, will have peace.