I remind myself that it’s dumb luck that I see fighter planes fly by and think “ooooh” and not have fear that they might bomb me.

In 2015 when I was in the refugee camps in Greece, the Greek Air Force flew two F-4 Phantoms at low altitude over the camp. I looked up at the planes and then saw all the Syrian refugees around me with a totally different reaction.

For them?

It’s not the sound of freedom

I grew up going to airshows as a kid.

The kids I saw back then were terrified. They’d seen war up close, they’d been bombed by those planes.

I hated those pilots and I was so self aware of my ignorance of what they’d gone through.

There’s no particular point to this thread, only to appreciate where you are in life if you can look at a big war machine with awe and not terror. Because that ain’t universal.