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Getting to Know You - Tuesday, May 12


Ann

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I try to live my life with my head so far in the sand that I can't know anything that will hurt someone else. I could sing all day and never say anything that might help anyone. I guess I just like to mind my own business. Tradition ten say I have no opinion on outside issues.

Donny

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I like to think I wouldn't spill the beans. I would sure scream and curse and maybe tell lies but I hope I wouldn't divulge the information they were looking for. But who knows?

This reminds me of my very very favorite passage in any book ever. The book is Man's Fate by Andre Malraux and it takes place during the French war in Indochina. A fighter is captured by the enemy and will surely be tortured for information. Luckily, he is prepared -- he has a capsule of cyanide on a chain around his neck for just such an occasion. As he's waiting in a room with other prisoners, about to swallow his cyanide, he sees another prisoner losing it, totally freaked out by his own impending torture. And so he gives the guy his cyanide.

Whenever I think of what courage really means, I think of that passage, after nearly 50 years...

Ellen

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Ellen....what a neat thing to share. I would really like to have the courage of the guy that was able to put someone else's feelings above his own fear.

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Within me is the ability to survive and defeat torture for special information.

Within me is the weakness to succumb to the same pain.

The balance is in the pain I think during torture that I likely will feel from the results of my submission versus the perceived pain of the torture.

I suspect the same is true for everyone.

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That's something the guys in my photo reconnaissance squadron thought about very seriously during the period we were flying deep into North Vietnam. Several members of our unit did get shot down and captured, and one of the goals of "mistreatment" was to break the prisoner down and get him to make statements that could be filmed and used as propaganda. Some resisted better than others, and I don't think any of us could truly anticipate how we might react under such duress.

But getting "information" was not a realistic goal of harsh interrogation, since we had no information of significant tactical value. Even our squadron commander had no idea what targets our unit might be tasked to photograph tomorrow or the next day, and the top secret data we were given on call signs, timing, and target coordinates applied only to our individual missions and was useless once the mission had been flown. The important stuff was micromanaged at the White House and transmitted piecemeal just in time for the next day's events.

Ned

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Ann, I really appreciate your saying that -- I was not sure if I should post that since it was rather 'dark' for the thread. But I really love the passage so I indulged myself. Thank you.

Eek, Ned, so glad you didn't get shot down!!! I'd bet my house they wouldn't have been able to break you -- but I'm very happy they didn't get the chance to prove me right.

Ellen

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