Checkers & War Rules

"I remember Norma Bowker and Henry Dobbins playing checkers every evening before dark, It was a ritual for them. They would dig a foxhole and get the board out and play long, silent games as the sky went from pink to purple. The rest of us would sometimes stop bu to watch. There was something restful about it, something orderly and reassuring. There were red checkers and black checkers. The playing field was laid out in a strict grid, no tunnels or mountains or jungles. You knew where you stood, You knew the score. the pieces were out on the board, the enemy was visible, you could watch the tactics unfolding into larger strategies. There was a winner and a loser. There were rules." (p. 31)

I love how this passage summarizes the soldiers' emotions about the war they are fighting. Often before I have heard checkers and chess used as a metaphor for war, but never have a seen it displayed as the perfect war, so perfect it can hardly be considered war. I like how these few sentences also provided the author with a chance to describe the general terrain which the men faced. The line that struck me the most while reading this though was; "There were rules." I know it is a small sentence, but it carries a lot of power. The basic concept of war being winner takes all, I do not believe that a thought such as rules in war ever crosses an everyday person's mind as a convenience. It makes me wonder if soldiers of today's wars also wish for simple rules, if they believe that this would simplify war. When I think about war with rules, I think about the way wars used to be fought in England when one side would take turns shooting at the other, but for the most part neither side really hated the other. I wonder what type of war we could have today if such rules were in place, or if war would even be possible.