From an historical perspective we have rarely been at peace, hardly ever in my lifetime. If we count cold war, covert operations, support for Contras or Salvadorean govt, heavy military presence in Korean DMZ (a misnomer: what could be as militarized as the "demilitarized zone."), various Reagan/Bush invasions, etc... So war would be the continuation of war by other means. Thus I don't see war as at all exceptional, aside from the startling concentration of violence in one place at one time.

At 12 I must switch over to Spanish for rest of day. In three hours I've written a page and a half of grant proposal (50%), read nine emails from David, written him back two or three times, seen 6 or 7 students, corresponded with 3 other people on email, written these diary entries. A wasted morning?