"Relative to the horrors of your first exposure, yes," she added. "By
particularly afraid," she parenthesized with her fingers, "I do not mean
you were without fear. I am talking about accumulating it in various
circumstances, which you interpreted as adrenaline rushes that you tamed
by guzzling beer. Warrior cultures are no different. They accumulate
fear," she said, stacking her hands one on top of the other, "becoming
accustomed to it until something has to give. This could be a race riot
based on a traffic ticket, or the deliberate construction of an event
designed to relieve the stress, such as attacking the alleged threat a
government puts in front of us."
"How do you define warrior cultures?"
"Total the number of years of peace and those of war any nation has
experienced, and draw your own conclusions."
"Their causes will skew the numbers."
"Not in any way. Peace 'is,' without doing anything. The question is,
who will be willing to face themselves and who will have to repeat their
lessons in self-treachery?"
"How would I know?"
"You sound like a tourist shouting, 'You can't do this to me!'" she
said, chuckling. "The question was rhetorical."
"That reminds me of an incident in Iran," I said, deflecting.
Bonnie cocked her head in puzzlement.
"You asked me to say whatever comes to mind?"
"Go ahead."
"Around day eleven of the hostage crisis, the Revolutionary Guard
arrested us for allegedly taking pictures of restricted sites. We hadn't,
which our confiscated tape would prove, while our jailers entertained
themselves by poking bayonets into our cell. Joe Schlesinger, tired of the
taunting, leaned against the bars…" I chuckled, "and told four guards that
the new regime was staging massive demonstrations for the benefit of
western reporters, and he was about to miss his deadline!" I laughed.
Bonnie looked perplexed.
"You can't do this to me?'" I said with transparent glee.
"I understood that. I just don't see the humour in your situation."
"I guess it came from nervous tension at the time," I said lamely.
"And now you‘re bringing those fears into the present. You must
have been angry with him?"
