This is by Corita Kent, 1967. I grew up with a framed print over the sofa in my family’s living room. The War, by which anybody and everybody meant The Vietnam War, was ever a constant. It was there, a fact of life, in the background perhaps half forgotten, brought to the fore when the family car passed a troop convoy on the highway. The War was the peace sign on my jacket, the peace sign graffiti on overpasses, the symbol carved into the desks at school, on silver pendants, earrings. The War was always there.

It occurred to me this morning that the Forever Wars of the US in the 21st Century are similarly always there, background or not. Missing, however, are the peace signs.