The youth could not help breaking a rule of courtesy towards this heavily burdened and yet, as he felt, noble man by asking: “But tell me, I beseech you, why do you carry on such wars on your star? Who is to blame for them? Are you yourself in part responsible?”
The King seemed angered at this audacity and for a time stared at the messenger. But he could not continue to meet with his dark gaze the bright and guileless eyes of the stranger.
“You are a child,” said the King, “and there are things you cannot understand. War is no one’s fault, it occurs of itself, like storm and lightning, and all of us who have to fight wars, we are not their originators, we are only their victims.”
Hermann Hesse, Strange News from Another Star
Peter Cameron's Blog 
Thought provoking, and reflecting back, I used to think as the King does. But I no longer do. Maybe I’m entering my 2nd childhood, then.
—
Ian
Hesse suffered a lot from his pacifist beliefs, and if you read the whole story, it’s clear that he identifies with the child.
As far as I recall from school Tolstoy was closer to the king’s point of view.
I think this is more complex.
While the Twins were collapsing on 9/11 it was clear to me there is going to be a war. No American leader could have made any other choice. On the other hand, the Iraq war was a choice of the government and another government could have decided not to go to that war.
In the current war in Israel, Netanyahu made a lot of terrible choices in the build up to the October 7 attack. However, afterwards, the rage in Israel was so high that a strong reaction in Gaza was unavoidable. I believe that stopping the war for now is unrealistic, but controlling its intensity might be possible.
Riffs and Rotes • Happy New Year 2024