Roof with a view

There is a Japanese haiku that goes: Yesterday the storm blew my roof away/Now I can see the moon more clearly.

When a monkey broke some tiles on my roof so that all night the rain poured in, the last thing I was thinking was: Hey! look at the pretty moon.

More like, if I see that monkey again I'm going to get a gun and shoot him.

It makes me think about enmity in general and what a deeply individual response it is to threat. The monkey destroyed my property, exposed me to the storm and terrified the wits out of me .
He counts as my enemy.

But a soldier aiming a gun across the LoC at a complete stranger who has done him no harm, and for no reason other than that he's been told the man is his enemy - what sense does that make?

Much has been said about governments creating war for political ends, but mad politicians wouldn't have this power if seriously bizarre individuals didn't support them in droves.

A friend who visited one of the border towns marked by barbed wire fencing tells how he shouted across to the Pakistani soldier: Look, there's an Indian bird on Pakistani territory. Shoot it!

Absurd?