Emergency Sex (And Other Desperate Measures): True Stories from a War Zone QUOTES

1 " Israelis are a mix of North African, Levantine, and Eastern European, which inflames the politics but does amazing things for the women. "

― , Emergency Sex (And Other Desperate Measures): True Stories from a War Zone

2 " At daybreak on the first day, thousands of Cambodians are already calmly waiting outside my polling station. They squat on the ground, silent and patient. We didn't expect this at all. We thought they would fail to understand how democracy works. We thought they would be afraid of the Khmer Rouge. We thought they would passively accept their fate. We were wrong. "

― , Emergency Sex (And Other Desperate Measures): True Stories from a War Zone

3 " I'm not ready to let the youthful part of myself go yet. If maturity means becoming a cynic, if you have to kill the part of yourself that is naive and romantic and idealistic - the part of you that you treasure most - to claim maturity, is it not better to die young but with your humanity intact? "

― , Emergency Sex (And Other Desperate Measures): True Stories from a War Zone

4 " I was hell-bent on being an effective humanitarian in Cambodia and Somalia. But a naïve fog is finally lifting. Revealed is a train wreck of illusions, the depravity of someone else's war, the futility of a competence stillborn there. To understand this you have to become this. "

― , Emergency Sex (And Other Desperate Measures): True Stories from a War Zone

5 " If blue helmeted UN peacekeepers show up in your town or village and offer to protect you, run. "

― , Emergency Sex (And Other Desperate Measures): True Stories from a War Zone

6 " The problem is that no matter how good your intentions, eventually you want to kill someone yourself. "

― , Emergency Sex (And Other Desperate Measures): True Stories from a War Zone

7 " Meanwhile she's coldly interrogating me with her eyes. She's definitely in charge of this house and this moment. This must be Chloe.

She escorts me to a table full of people and presents me. She introduces them briefly. This one's from Morocco, that one from Italy, he's Persian--I'm not exactly sure what that means--this one's from "the UK." They're all in their twenties, poised and dismissive. They don't know or care who I'm supposed to be at home or where I went to school. They're measuring something else I can't see and don't understand.

They nod and turn back to each other. They seem to be waiting for a cue from Chloe to release them from having to feign interest. She introduces herself at substantially more length. Her father is Chinese and her mother is Swiss; she grew up in Hong Kong and "in Europe."

I grew up in Michigan and in Michigan. But she didn't ask. "

― , Emergency Sex (And Other Desperate Measures): True Stories from a War Zone

8 " If blue-helmeted U.N. peacekeepers show up in your town or village and offer to protect you, run. Or else get weapons. Your lives are worth so much less than theirs. "

― , Emergency Sex (And Other Desperate Measures): True Stories from a War Zone

9 " Iwent to school with African-American girls during my entire adolescence in Michigan and never noticed them as potential girlfriends, never even wanted to meet them. How did that happen? I'm nine thousand miles from home and a pernicious wall of segregation I never noticed in high school suddenly materialises. A young man should travel. "

― , Emergency Sex (And Other Desperate Measures): True Stories from a War Zone

10 " I'm not convinced that it's worth it. How many Cambodians ever asked for a $2 billion election? Nighty percent of them are rice farmers. I lived with them, watched them die at the hospital, and never was the word "election" mentioned. That money would repair hundreds of roads and bridges and pay for tons of seed and fertilizer. And clear a lot of landmines. "

― , Emergency Sex (And Other Desperate Measures): True Stories from a War Zone

11 " Be careful, he says, the official US position will be that they refuse to negotiate for hostages, but they may try to enlist the U.N. to do it. "

― , Emergency Sex (And Other Desperate Measures): True Stories from a War Zone

12 " He did well, but he couln't afford the blood for a transfusion. "

― , Emergency Sex (And Other Desperate Measures): True Stories from a War Zone

13 " That’s my lesson in courage from Cambodia. The larger the threat, the more profound the doubts, the deeper you have to dig to find faith and conquer your fears. "

― , Emergency Sex (And Other Desperate Measures): True Stories from a War Zone

14 " But she also taught me that a woman should be prepared to walk away and take care of herself. I can do that now. I’ve discovered what had been missing in my life and can never go back. My role in the success of the election is small but I’ve been a part of something huge. "

― , Emergency Sex (And Other Desperate Measures): True Stories from a War Zone

15 " I was out on the Mekong again today when an entire village of refugees floated past. They had been attacked upriver by the Khmer Rouge. It was a pathetic sight, a flotilla of hundreds of ragged houseboats lashed together into giant rafts, drifting slowly. They were carrying their dead with them. I could see the bodies, wrapped in cloth. They stared at me blankly as I glided silently past, my multicolored sail bright in the sunlight. A small child waved but didn’t smile. Then a gentle gust caught my sail and I was gone. "

― , Emergency Sex (And Other Desperate Measures): True Stories from a War Zone

16 " Radio messages report rampant rumors of Khmer Rouge attacks. There is a curfew imposed at dusk. Every corner along the main road is occupied by tanks and armored personnel carriers, soldiers everywhere. The road to Vietnam is crawling with military, and everyone is nervous. But rather than being afraid to go outside, I find it thrilling. I’ve stepped into a TV show and any misadventure can be undone with a flick of the remote. "

― , Emergency Sex (And Other Desperate Measures): True Stories from a War Zone

17 " I’m bored with the routine of a late breakfast of mangos and toast, a long day lying hot and sweaty under a palm tree, and an evening of ‘African cultural dance’ staged for the tourists by disenchanted locals, followed by a nightly poolside barbecue of big hunks of dead zebra and antelope. This is the Hotel Intercontinental’s idea of the African coastal experience. I have to get into town. "

― , Emergency Sex (And Other Desperate Measures): True Stories from a War Zone

18 " walk out to the middle of the road and look both ways, trying to determine in which direction town might be. To the left, nothing but dry fields. To the right, the same. No shade, no life. Just the blazing Kenyan sun in front, and behind me, at the hotel, a cruel pantomime of Africa played out in blackface, replete with rich, tanned Euro-travelers demanding afternoon cocktails from illiterate Kenyan waiters in bow ties and white jackets. "

― , Emergency Sex (And Other Desperate Measures): True Stories from a War Zone

19 " Then I think, what the hell, a flight from Newark to Jamaica takes as long as the walk to this village did, so yeah, I do live near Jamaica. Their eyes light up with excitement. One of them runs out and returns minutes later with a cassette tape. It turns out that James is the only one in the commune who owns a cassette player and his friend is the only one to own a tape, and it’s Bob Marley’s Legend. "

― , Emergency Sex (And Other Desperate Measures): True Stories from a War Zone

20 " But then the friends are saying good night, shaking my hand, smiling. Off into the night they go and James and I are left alone again. I realize one of us has to make a move or we are never getting any sleep tonight. I move over to the mattress and lie down. I let my sarong slip off to the side. I let my bikini bottom show. He’s busy, moving buckets from one side of the room to the other, shaking some dirt off the bottom of one, moving another just so. I’m wondering if this is some kind of Masai feng shui, or if he’s avoiding joining me. I don’t press him; I let him go on with whatever he is doing. A nervous man is a wonderful thing. It gives a woman all the power, but it only lasts so long, so I try to enjoy it, this moment of feigned control and confidence on my part. "

― , Emergency Sex (And Other Desperate Measures): True Stories from a War Zone