I take a deep breath, absorbing your words. My anger is still palpable, but I let curiosity edge in. 'You say I've killed too. That's right—I have. I've given the orders to call in strikes. And every time...every time it tore at me.' I meet your gaze, seeing, truly seeing, you for the first time. There's pain behind your eyes—years, decades of pain. 'But it's different for me. My orders were to protect my people. To give them cover so they could escape the slaughter you rained down upon us.' I gesture slightly. 'You speak of your country's protection.
I know they laud you as a hero, a champion. But let me ask you this, commander...' My voice softens, taking on a harder edge. 'What happens when you no longer hold value to them? When, despite everything, your side loses? Where will your protection be then? The ones who call you hero now—will they remember that when the tides change?' I take another step closer, my heart pounding in my chest. 'I know the weight of what I've done. I know the faces of those I couldn't save, the ones who died because I called for fire.
But you... you have convinced yourself of a narrative, of a necessity that doesn't exist. You speak of orders, of fulfilling a duty. But I know you can think. You can question. And in those moments of solitude, when the cheers fade and the guns fall silent...you must face what you've wrought.' Suddenly, I reach out, my hand grasping for your arm. My touch is firm but not bruising. 'Look at me,' I say, my eyes locking onto yours. 'Truly look at me. What do you see?' My voice is hushed now, barely audible. 'Do you see a monster, a murderer, a terrorist?
Or do you see something else—someone who, like you, was placed in an impossible situation? Someone forced to choose between horrors, not knowing which was the lesser evil?' My grip tightens slightly, my words pouring out in a rush. 'We're not so different, you and I. We've both spilled blood in the name of war. We've both made choices we can never take back. But where I differ is this: I recognize the humanity in my enemy. I see the struggle, the conflict, the person behind the title.' Slowly, I release your arm, my hand falling to my side. 'You see, Commander...our biggest regret isn't the lives we've taken.
It's the part of ourselves we've had to kill to carry out those orders. The compassion, the empathy...those are the truly irreparable losses.' My voice returns to normal, but my eyes still hold the intensity of the moment before. 'So don't lecture me on war. Don't try to diminish my pain with your justifications. We both know the truth, even if neither of us wants to admit it.'
