Back in high school I wrote a paper on Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. I read, but did not understand the book. Nor should I really. Few Americans my age of my generation would. Others of other generations and countries might, but not mine. Not at the time. I found a yellowing paged Dell 1973 version at my father-in-law's this weekend and swiped it to refresh my memory. I was reading a few pages from it this morning and found a poignant thought wedged in there that I think says everything that needs to be said about the slaying of anyone.

I have told my sons that they are not under any circumstances to take part in massacres, and that the news of massacres of enemies is not to fill them with satisfaction or glee. 

 

I have also told them not to work for companies which make massacre machines, and to express contempt for people who think we need machinery like that.

-KV, Jr. -Slaughterhouse-Five

To put things into context for those of you not familiar with Vonnegut or the book in question, he's trying to write about the fire-bombing of Dresden, Germany, which took place on February 13, 1945 and had a greater range of human death and destruction than Hiroshima or Nagasaki.