A soldier sings “…And tell my boys, the Lord, he found me. When I say their names out loud, they’re all around me. And tell ‘em not to cry at all. Heaven is wherever I fall.”

This soldier knows how to make a special cloud of witnesses with his boys; he says ‘their names out loud’ and ‘they are all around’ him to witness his bravery. His example. And especially his love for their company. Those who assumed that his colleagues are the only people around him apart from those he must fight now know better: his boys are around him too.

The truth of the matter is that though he wants to remain as their hero, he does not wish to die in battle. He wishes to return home and be in a position where he can be around his boys when they too call his name. For just as soldier dad’s wish for their boys to be around them, so do boys wish for their fathers to be around them.

This situation is true of the Cyrano situation as it is true of the Russian-Ukrainian war. Is there any way the tenderness which the leaders of both Russia and Ukraine have towards the boys in their lives can influence a rethink about the war and lead to a cessation of hostilities?