Lessons

by Ian McEwan

The two sides, protesting that they stood for peace, would, for pride and honour’s sake, stumble into war. One small exchange, one ship sunk for another, would become a lunatic conflagration. Schoolboys knew that this was how the First World War began. They had written essays on the subject. Each country said it didn’t want war, and then they all joined in with a ferocity the world was still discussing and trying to understand. This time there would be no one left to try. Then what of that first encounter, that beautiful dangerous mountain range? Blown away with the rest. As he lay waiting for sleep he remembered his friend’s question: what if you died before you had it? It.