Once Bob and I were in the awkward position of being fired on by island revolutionaries wed in fact supplied with guns and ammo. They were, if not our friends, people we at least supported on political and moral levels. But they didnt know who we were in that moment. Jungle doesnt make for easy recognition. We were white and we came in a plane--like a lot of the bad guys. We werent in radio contact. I was frankly concerned. How to tell our allies without getting shot? I grew more concerned when Bob disappeared. This would be hard for some downstream aftermath diplomatic corps rep to explain to my mother. And lets face it, we were dealing with people who have something like a 10-20,000 year history of taking and smoking heads. Then I smelled a marvelous aroma. Bob hadnt deserted me, of course. Hed found a clearing and made a fire, and was frying up dried bacon and wild banana. There wasnt time to shoot and field dress a roving bush pig--he carried a jerky-like rendition of bacon with him for morale, and he was cooking it up then. I followed the smell of the sizzling meat (he had a collapsible expedition fry pan he always traveled with), just as our local friends and assailants were doing. When he saw me, he raised his big bear arms and said, Welcome the ambush! As the Jews say, people are always hungry. So, heres the message…faced with overwhelming odds, keep your humor and your cool. Offer people food. Especially if theyre better armed. Whos going to shoot in the head a man cooking bacon? I accept that some people culturally reject pork products, but the question Have you eaten? makes friends around the world.
Posted on: Fri, 20 Jun 2014 21:44:09 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015