I’ve Stopped War Reporting. I Realized That

My Reporting In Africa Wouldn't Be Political Per Se, But It's Certainly The Point Of My Reporting - And Of A Lot Of Other Reporters I Know: Human Suffering Is Bad, And If Reporting Stories About It Brings It To Light And Someone Does Something, That's Part Of The Point Of Journalism. And It's A Thin Line Between That And Activism, And You Have To Be Careful About That.

The Attacks Of 9/11 Came Out Of Afghanistan. It Was A Failed State, A Rogue Nation. That's Why Al Qaeda Was There In The First Place.

During The Air War Of 1944, A Four-man Combat Crew On A B-17 Bomber Took A Vow To Never Abandon One Another No Matter How Desperate The Situation. The Aircraft Was Hit By Flak During A Mission And Went Into A Terminal Dive, And The Pilot Ordered Everyone To Bail Out. The Top Turret Gunner Obeyed The Order, But The Ball Turret Gunner Discovered That A Piece Of Flak Had Jammed His Turret And He Could Not Get Out. The Other Three Men In His Pact Could Have Bailed Out With The Parachutes, But They Stayed With Him Until The Plan Hit The Ground And Exploded. They All Died.

I Don't Think People Would Climb Mountains Or Jump Off Bridges With Parachutes Or Kayak Class V Rapids If Those Things Didn't Offer The Brief And Horrible Illusion Of Imminent Death. They Would Just Be Complicated, Time-consuming Endeavors That We'd Steer Well Clear Of Because They Got In The Way Of Real Life.

I'm A Good Liberal, And I Grew Up In A Very Liberal Family And Had Very Strongly Held Beliefs.