Unfriendly Skies

13 September 2021

Sometimes I wonder if past heroes would still be heroic if they saw the present. Heroes and historical figures were humans, after all, with their own imperfections, perhaps even prejudices. Imagine, for example, some World War 2 ace saying: “You know what? I’m not sure its worth all this, and my life, to get to a society where *conspiracy theorists make stuff up and post it online* so that halfwits can repeat it for eternity. I’m not sure all this stress and sacrifice and hardship is really appreciated by the perpetual professional victim class. Let them talk about their ‘systemic’ injustice to the Reich PR Department. Let them demand safe spaces and air their grievances to the Gestapo or the SS. Screw this, I’m going home. You want a world where you can be a victim? Fine. You got it!” Two ways to look at all that. The first is to say, phew, luckily, heroes never know what they die for. A bit harsh. And perhaps nihilistic (which is a stupid thing to be if you’re older than 16). The other is to say: Given what so many had to sacrifice for society to exist – perhaps I should live in such a way to deserve the gift.

Peter van der Walt is a fiction author, although you may find some non-fiction and the odd essay out there. Fans can find his newsletter, posts, updates and developments at petervanderwalt.com. Currently, he is hard at work on his next story. When not writing, he has far too many interests to reasonably keep up with. He lives with his partner in Devon, England.