80 Years Since VE Day: May We Remember The Cost Of War As We Enjoy The Fruits Of Peace

80 years ago this day, on May 8, 1945, the guns of war fell silent across Europe. Victory in Europe Day marked the official defeat of Nazi Germany, ending a conflict that left the Continent in ruins and the world forever changed. For those of us who enjoy the relative peace, prosperity, and freedom of the modern era, it’s worth pausing to reflect on just how much blood, sweat, and tears it took to build the world we now too often take for granted.

World War II was a total war. It demanded not just armies but entire societies; men and women on the front lines and on assembly lines. Factories were repurposed, children evacuated, rations imposed, liberties suspended. The cost in human life is almost unfathomable to our modern sensibilities. But even more sobering is the truth that it didn’t have to happen. The war came because peace failed: because institutions crumbled, democracies eroded, and lies were allowed to metastasize into national ideologies.

This week, while reading reflections on VE Day, I found myself thinking about the fragile nature of the world we’ve inherited. The postwar order–the alliances, norms, and institutions that were painstakingly built to keep the peace–was not inevitable. It was created. And like anything created, it can be dismantled.

There is a travel angle here, too. Every time I step off a plane in a country that was once occupied or bombed, I marvel at how far we’ve come. That I can sip espresso in Warsaw, stroll the streets of Munich, or ride a train from Amsterdam to Paris with no border check is no small thing. This freedom to move, to explore, to engage across cultures, is the fruit of that peace. And it’s a reminder that travel is not just a luxury–it’s one of the most tangible signs that peace exists.

But peace is not permanent. Institutions that took decades to build can crumble in a few short years. We see it in the erosion of democratic norms, the cheapening of discourse, and the casual way in which some speak of enemies and violence. History doesn’t exactly repeat, but it rhymes. If we are not vigilant, we may find ourselves once again watching the world unravel in real time.

Henry van Dyke penned the hymn “Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee” in 1907, as Europe lurched closer to the First World War. He described his verses not as a call to nationalism or triumph but as a call to joy: “the hymn of the ages” that he hoped would outlive war. And indeed it has outlived a century of war, including the utter devastation of World War II. We sing it still, a reminder that even in a world torn by conflict, we can aspire to beauty, to truth, to something greater than ourselves.

So on this 80th anniversary of VE Day, may we remember the cost. May we give thanks for the allies who stood together, for the courage it took to defeat tyranny, and for the wisdom it took to then build something better. For the sacrifice of 25 million men and women who died in conflict for the cause of peace. And may we learn the lessons of history, not only so that we are not doomed to repeat them, but so that we may honor those who came before us by stewarding well the world they fought to give us.

Travel is a gift. Freedom is a gift. Democracy is a gift. All are worth defending.