In his defense of the sport of boxing, Baron Pierre de Coubertin linked the local to the global, the micro to the macro, the personal to the universal.  Five years before he launched the Olympic Games, the Baron wrote “Education for Peace,” an article that appeared in La Reforme Sociale in 1889. He argued against those who connected combat sports with armaments and machine guns, claiming the former did not lead to the latter.  In fact, he argued that education of the whole human being, mentally, emotionally and physically, would help to counter the parade of folly that so often leads to war.   

“In schools, the English call boxing gloves ‘the keepers of the peace.’ Boys are allowed to practice with their gloves on, apparently because at some point they will have occasion to fight with them off. Teachers must never approve such actions, but if they are clever, they will know when to ignore them in certain cases. This way of fighting has nothing in common with ruinous armaments, machine guns, and torpedoes. Do these fights in school really have so great an impact on society? Do they really contribute to thoughts of war? I do not believe so. Once again, it is not a question of causing fighting to disappear, but rather the parade of folly that accompanies modern war.”