How did you hear about that?”
“I read about it”
“Are you American?”
“I’m from New York”
“Americans have a tendency to talk about the ethos of the community, and not of the individual. You think this war is between Israel and Lebanon, for example. You think about who is right and wrong, but you don’t think about the experience of the soldier.

”

—

Searching for Zion by Emily Raboteau

(via The Best American Non-Required Reading, 2008)