I think a lot about what you say. One of my favorite scenes in a war movie is in "All Quiet on the Western Front". The old respected men of the village talk over a map every day at the local coffee shop. This movement and that movement, how to win, etc.

A young man out of high school joins up and spends months at the front. He comes back. The town greets him as a hero.

He goes to the coffee shop and watches the town burghers at their map and explains it's not like that at all. They start to argue with him. Finally, they say, you may know the picture on the ground but we know the big picture.

And here I am, one of those pathetic men. I'm 60. There's no real narrative in war. Just death, destruction, lives ruined. Randomness and death. I see everything you see.

I look for a solution to the problem you bring up. It seems simple. All these young people should just put down their guns and tell their respective buhrgers to piss off. They could. The war could end tomorrow--all wars!

But I can't convince them to do that. No one has in the past. The sick truth is we're all desparate for meaning in our lives. Few can manufacture on their own. The war is an adventure for those Russians and Ukrainians. It makes them feel alive, for all the horror. What alternative can you or I offer?

We live in a world that has become so devoid of purpose/meaning that young people look for identity by changing their sex as kids while adults can't stop it. Tattotoes, piercings, all signs of decadance to me. And yet, what alternative can I offer? I mean I can, but few share my same interests.

I could go on and on. I do hope to write more philosophical pieces about what you've brought up in the future.