Dangerous Questions

A thousand lifetimes ago, in a land the mapmakers have long since forgotten, two nations were at war. No one knew when the war had begun. The grandfathers had fought when they were young men, and having fought had sent their sons; and their sons had become fathers and sent their sons. It was said that even the great-grandfathers had been soldiers and could not remember a time when there was peace.

Few of the soldiers thought about the war. The ordinary soldiers thought only about how to stay alive for one more minute, one more hour, one more day, perhaps even a week. The officers worried about their men and tried to keep their heads. The generals and the Kings thought about how to win. No one remembered what the war was about. No one asked. In battle there is little time for thinking.

There came, as there always does in war, a time of quiet. The soldiers were tired, and the edges of their weapons had become dull with constant fighting. Rain had turned the battlefield to mud so thick that a man could sink in it up to his eyes. The armies waited, exhausted, for the sun and new strength.

It happened that one of the soldiers, Brian by name, was ordered to guard duty on that day. He was the most ordinary of soldiers, neither braver nor stronger nor less tired than the others. But as he stood alone, watching the rain and the empty battlefield, thoughts came to him unbidden. He remembered his home, and how the war had emptied the town granaries. He thought about his wife and son, and how his son would one day follow him, perhaps to this very field.

A glorious way to live, and how much more glorious a way to die-so he had been told. But having seen death in battle, he knew that it was not glorious but painful. For the first time he asked himself why. And he found no answer.

His guard duty ended, but Brian could not rest. He asked his fellow soldiers what the war was about, but none of them could answer. Why was not the business of ordinary soldiers, they said. They had all they could do to follow orders and stay alive. For hours they talked, but they could not answer the question.

"Perhaps," Brian said, "the commander knows. We must go to him." But the others would not go. Asking too many questions could be dangerous. They had all they could do to follow orders and stay alive.

But Brian could not rest. He asked for audience with the commander, and it was granted. The commander spoke of the need to win, of the search for new ways of fighting that would finally defeat the enemy, of how the enemy would rape and kill and plunder if he was not defeated. But he could not say how the war had started or what it had once been about. That was the business of the King.

Brian returned to his unit, but still he could not rest. He sent a letter to the King. With great respect, and not a little fear, he asked whether the King could tell him what the war was about. The King replied with a gentleness that was surprising in the Supreme Warlord. He spoke of the need to win, of the search for new ways of fighting, of the evils committed by the enemy. But he, too, could not say how the war had started. That was no longer his business. When the enemy had been defeated would be time enough to sort it out. In any case, we all knew what would happen if the enemy was not defeated.

Brian opened the King's letter with great eagerness. But when he had read it, he found he knew less than before. If even the King did not know what the war was about, who could he ask? And if the war was in truth about nothing, what then? He spoke to no one about this, the hardest question of all, but it would not let him rest.

Now, as it happened, Brian's unit soon was moved away from the battlefield and put to guarding prisoners. It was easy work; the prisoners were, for the most part, dispirited relics of the men they had been. Few tried to escape or complained about their imprisonment. They had not the strength.

One of the prisoners, called Jacob, seemed stronger than the others. In the long hours of the night, he and Brian talked. They spoke at first of their homes, of their families, and of their hopes for the future. They spoke of the war, of the battles they had seen and comrades who had died. At last Brian asked Jacob the most dangerous of questions, for they had become friends and trusted each other.

At first Jacob could say nothing in reply, for he, too, had been a soldier whose business it was to follow orders and stay alive. But as they talked, they began to see an answer.

"No one," Jacob said, "really wants the war. Everyone wishes for an end to it."

"Then there is no reason to fight," said Brian. "It does not matter why the war began. Even the King has forgotten."

"It is not that the Kings give no reason," Jacob replied. "They give many reasons, but their proofs fade into the air as soon as they are spoken. None stands. Your King tells you that we will kill you and plunder your land if we are not stopped. Our King tells us the same about you. But it would not be so if we were not at war."

"Then the war goes on because no one has the will to stop it," Brian said. "Each is afraid-but of what?"

"Each is afraid to be first to seek peace."

Not long after, Jacob disappeared from the prison camp. It was said among his fellow prisoners that he had been taken to the killing place and beheaded, but this was not so. He had escaped.

For a long time Brian heard little about his friend. Years passed, and at last Brian returned to his home. But still he could not rest. Again and again he asked what the war was about. Some listened to him and came to see as he did. Many others called him coward and traitor, though he had been an honorable soldier.

Again Brian wrote to the King. This time he sought an audience, and it was granted. Again he asked the King why the war could not be stopped. Again the King told him that the enemy must be defeated. Again Brian asked why. Again the King told him that if the enemy won, great evil would follow.

"But what if we were not at war?" said Brian. "Could we not live together? Surely there was a time when we did?"

"No one remembers such a time," replied the King.

"Then there has never been peace between us?"

"It is said among some of the people that there was once peace, but my counsellors say this is a mere legend."

"Do you, your majesty, want this war?" said Brian.

"No," said the King. "It is our enemies who wish it. I am forced to it."

"Forced?"

"Forced because we dare not seem to be weak."

"But that is not a reason! That is the counsel of a stubborn fool!" Even as he spoke, Brian wished to take his words back, for the King raised his hand to summon the guards. There was no time for him to apologize. The guards led him away.

Down and down the stairs they carried him, until they came to the deepest cellar of the King's palace. There they put him into a cell. In the dark he could not see at first, but after a time he found that there was another prisoner confined with him. It was his friend Jacob.

"What are you doing here?" Brian asked.

"I was returning to see you when the King's guards arrested me. I have been here for some weeks now."

"I spoke with our King," said Brian.

"And I with ours," said Jacob.

"He would not listen."

"Nor would ours. But do not despair, my friend. Your question was too hard and dangerous for your King or mine to hear at first. With time, perhaps, will come a change of mind."

"I do not think so," said Brian. "We have changed nothing, and the war goes on."

"That is not true. We have changed ourselves. That is no small matter."

"But the war goes on, and we can do nothing."

"We can tell the truth-if not to our Kings, then at least to God."

Not long after, the guards came for Brian and Jacob. They were led to the public square. To each of them the King offered life if they would say that the war was just. Both refused. It is said that even the King shrank back in sorrow at their words about the war. Then the two friends were hanged.

The war went on as though nothing had happened. The officers and the Kings could still see no end to it. But now the common soldiers began to talk of how two of their number had asked why. Soon not just two, but many asked why the war went on. Some fought on without question, but now some would not fight until they had an answer.

At length the Kings of the warring nations met. They spoke guardedly to one another, but each saw that the war could not go on. More and more of their soldiers would not fight on without reason, and they could give none. After months of talk, they declared the war at an end. Their lands were at peace once more.

The histories of the time mention little about Brian and Jacob. The Kings proclaimed no holidays for them. The schools teach nothing at all about the reasons for the war. Children learn that the war was just, and that peace came through the wisdom of the Kings. But it is said that many of the people still honor the memories of the two ordinary soldiers who asked why.

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