“A German fighter ace has just learned that one of his 28 wartime ‘kills’ was his favourite author.” Horst Rippert learned that in July 1944 he shot down his favorite author, Antoine de Saint-Exupery. He says he would have held his fire had he known. “Who knows what other great books he would have gone on to write?”
I wonder what great books any of the other 28 victims of Rippert would have written. When we make a choice to kill, we must realize that we are killing endless possibilities.
“Men,” said the fox. “They have guns, and they hunt. It is very disturbing.”
“They also raise chickens. These are their only interests. Are you looking for chickens?”