And what she understood-what none of the ones who came to touch Simons forehead understood-was that the misery of war represented the worlds only truly universal language. Its native speakers occupied different ends of the world, and the prayers they recited were not the same and the empty superstitions to which they clung so dearly were not the same-and yet they were. War broke them the same way, made them scared and angry and vengeful the same way. In times of peace and good fortune they were nothing alike, but stripped of these things they were kin. The universal slogan of war, shed learned, was simple: If it had been you, youd have done no different.
About This Quote
About Omar El Akkad, American War
Omar El Akkad, American War.
Themes
- War — Reflections on conflict, peace, and the human cost of war