An environmental brain spasm...

[elfs]

My grandfather liked to tell the story about how, as a medic during WWII, he was attached to a POW camp filled with surly Germans. New prisoners, he said, all went through a common process: on their first day, they were surprised, and would often laugh, at mealtimes, because their meal came on flimsy aluminium trays. The Americans, it seemed, had fallen on hard times, and been so desperate for materials that all they could afford for their prisoners were these flexible metal trays. Surely, the war would soon be over, and surely Germany had won.

At the end of the meal, they were shocked to learn that the Americans were just throwing the trays away. The Americans had enough raw material they could afford to just toss aluminium into the trash. Then they understood: surely, the war would be over soon, and surely Germany had lost.

It occurs to me that my children's generation will shake their heads at the ridiculous wastefulness of both sides.