War and the Empath.

As I’ve grown older I’ve become ever more aware of the fact that conscription in time of war makes little allowance for the vagaries of human nature. All men aged between 17 and 45, with only a few specific exceptions, must submit themselves to the status of fodder for the shells, the bombs, the bayonets and the bullets.

Imagine what unnatural sights a person must be forced to witness in a battle. Imagine the unsavoury odours, and the sound of screaming shells blended with the screaming voices of people torn apart but still conscious. I do imagine it sometimes, and I wonder whether anyone with an empathic nature can possibly experience such horror without becoming hopelessly insane.