Keep saying to myself, "I am a war machine. I am a war machine. I am a war machine."

It's true enough, hesitancy & doubt are just part of the process. Little path of destruction.

Thinking about how rituals intended to imbue things with solemnity slip inevitably into boilerplate.

Trying to imagine reading things without understanding, seizing on things that reinforce prejudices & fears, a fog with monsters in it.

There's no fog, all is perfect clarity.