Should I Feel Bad About Not Feeling Bad?
No. We're in a war. It's a war for the soul of America. In wars people do things they ordinarily wouldn't do, and they have feelings they would rather not have.
In this case the feeling is a certain numbness. The empathy string on your violin has been muted.
Years ago I read Jonathan Shay's Odysseus in America: Combat Trauma and the Trials of Homecoming, and it changed my view of these matters. Friedrich Nietzsche's famous dictum "What does not kill me makes me stronger" is simply wrong. It doesn't make you stronger, But it does make you different.
Shay also wrote Achilles in Vietnam: Combat Trauma and the Undoing of Character. I've never quite been able to lay my hands on it - it's a bit rare. Perhaps now I'll make another try.
But I do know a bit about the Greeks and war. Homer saw these things very clearly. The path that Odysseus takes home to Penelope is full of twists and turns, and it takes a long time.
After we win the war, we will need to recover. The path will be long, and unpredictable.
See also The Coronavirus Caravan Trundles Along.
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