In Some Ways, Risk-taking Is The Ultimate

Ironically, Though Our Society Of Affluence Brings Safety And Stability, It Doesn't Bring Psychological Health. As Wealth Goes Up, Suicide And Depression Rates Tend To Go Up. I Read One Study That Compared Women In North America With Women In Nigeria, And The Group With The Highest Rates Of Depression Was Urban North American Women, Which Is The Wealthiest. Now, There Are Obviously Huge Stresses That Come With Poverty, But The Poorer The Society, The More Collaborative People Have To Be.

Soldiers Join The Military To Serve Their Country, But When Bullets Are Flying, It's Hard To Fight For An Abstract Notion Like Patriotism. They're Fighting For The People Standing Next To Them, And It Doesn't Matter Who's A Republican Or A Democrat, Or Who's Black Or White Or Christian Or Muslim Or Gay Or Straight. If Congress And All Americans Could Manage To Ignore Those Differences, We Would Have A Perfect Country, But Somehow We Cannot Rise To That Level Of Nobility.

War Is A Lot Of Things And It's Useless To Pretend That Exciting Isn't One Of Them. (pg. 144)

Of The Primary Emotions, Fear Is The One That Bears Most Directly On Survival. Children Show Fear. Adults Try Not To, Maybe Because It's Shameful, Or, In Some Circumstances, Dangerous. The Fear Response Is Automatic, Though, And Your Body Runs Through Its Reflexes Whether You Want It To Or Not.

The Cause Doesn't Have To Be Righteous And Battle Doesn't Have To Be Winnable; But Over And Over Again Throughout History, Men Have Chosen To Die In Battle With Their Friends Rather Than To Flee On Their Own And Survive.