We're now into that part of 2018 that marks the 100th anniversary of events in the Finnish Civil War.
One hundred years ago, Mannerheim had been made Supreme Commander of the White Guards.
In SILENCES: A NOVEL OF THE 1918 FINNISH CIVIL WAR, 100 years ago yesterday, Jussi Mantere's mother was shot by armed men on horseback wearing red armbands.
Was the war itself inevitable 100 years ago? Possibly--probably--maybe. Certainly something changed for Jussi that day, regardless of the force that was ultimately responsible for his mother's death.
Maybe that's what war really is--choices made by individual people, day by day by day. Like waves crashing onto a beach.