anyhow it had made the world situation seem real to him for a month or so , and we thought of that as an improvement ; up to then he had seemed unable to imagine either the war as an actual event or , for that matter , the real world itself in which that war was taking place . what could i say to him , anyway ? caught between a rock and a hard place , he turned and nodded . ah , well it is the same experience no matter the distance . 