“I met an Air Force pilot who was protesting the war because he was pretty sure he’d committed serious war crimes on several occasions by following the orders he’d been given to drop bombs on places in Iraq we were not supposed to drop bombs. If he could have turned himself in for his crimes, he probably would have, because he had a haunted face and he knew that ‘I was just following orders’ only goes so far. Nobody would arrest him, because he was a hero of course, so he was protesting the war with that haunted look on his face.”

Sometimes I’m amused.

Sometimes I’m baffled, outraged or, on a rare occasion: enlightened.

This column is the first in a long time that had me fighting back tears.