War Warps the Mind a Little: "I heard a faint whump somewhere off in the distance. The rocket had landed. Nobody moved. Nobody cared."

Ugh. God help us if we ever get to that point. I've heard this from combat veterans as well as people who grew up in war torn areas like Beirut. There's a certain grim fatalism that takes over as a coping mechanism. Either it's your time, or it isn't. People who are ordinarily completely logical become believers in predestination.

Kim du Toit wrote an essay once about death in Africa. He recounted the number of people who met with untimely deaths when he was growing up. That constant presence of death became so commonplace that it no longer had an impact. Death was met with a shrug and a sigh of regret for what was lost but it was brief and accepted as a part of life. We have the luxury of not worrying like that. It's one blessing that is often overlooked and it's a mighty big one.

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