Tommy knew when and where his father had died: during a war and in an airplane. What was unclear was whether his father had died. His father seemed to drift or pop in and out of Tommy’s and their lives. Tommy preferred the drifts in and out to the pops, since drifts were more gradual and gave Tommy a chance to accommodate. But pops, the more frequent mode of appearance, were exciting, despite their unsettling quality.

Philosophy is a tricky balance of viewing human life from without and from within. It’s tempting to say it involves both ways of viewing simultaneously, but that’s trickier still. It may not even be possible to do. We may achieve an illusion of simultaneity, but it’s more likely a fluttering between the two.

The Second Amendment is the only distinctly political-leaning right of the Constitution. It wasn’t drafted with that purpose or intention, but it has become so by culture and demographics. Maybe this is the too-seldom-discussed reason for the vehemence of our conflict over guns and gun control.