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| Jane Ferguson from Wikipedia |
LUCY BURDETTE: I’ve been watching with horror as events unfolded in Afghanistan over the past few weeks, especially with the Afghan women. We watch the PBS newshour most nights and there is a remarkable Irish reporter, Jane Ferguson, who almost always reports from the most conflict-ridden middle east hotspots--pick a frightening war zone and she was there. Syria, Iraq, Somalia...she even had herself smuggled into Yemen more than once. When the US withdrawal was first announced, she came to the US and appeared in the DC studio for a couple of days. But then she reappeared interviewing people at the Kabul Airport. Could there be a less safe place for any woman, much less an intrepid, fearless, blonde woman reporter? This made me wonder what makes her brave enough to choose that work. I admire her deeply for being determined to tell these frightening and important stories, but I am a chicken. I would never have flown back into that country, nor stood in the streets with armed Taliban all around asking natives for their reactions.
That’s my question for today, Reds. How brave are you?
HALLIE EPHRON: I am in awe of anyone, male or female, who can walk into a war zone in order to ensure that accurate information about what’s going on comes out. Reporters like Martha Raddatz who used to comment regularly on Washington Week. And these days journalists are literally targeted. How brave am I: not.
RHYS BOWEN: I think I could only be brave if my children were involved. I used to imagine living in Nazi Germany and wonder if I would dare to hide Jewish friends, smuggle them to safety. I speak almost perfect German and also wondered if I could have been a successful spy. I’m sure my terror would have given me away when chatting with a Gestapo officer! But if someone was going to take my kids, I know I could kill and take all kinds of risks.
DEBORAH CROMBIE: I'm sure I would never be as brave as your investigative journalist, Lucy. I do hope I would be brave enough to protect my family in an emergency. But on a more everyday level, maybe bravery is a relative thing. I was thinking what a wimp I am, then it occurred to me that I travel alone all the time, including internationally. I walk around London by myself at night and (almost) never worry. But I know other people who say they can't imagine even making a plane flight alone--it would be too scary.
HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: People say to me, oh, your job must be so dangerous! Ha. I say--you have no idea about the danger for my colleagues in war zones. Yes, Martha Raddatz and Clarissa Ward, oh my gosh. Christiane Amanpour. Richard Engel. I have wired myself with hidden cameras and gone undercover and in disguise--but Boston is not Kabul. I give them so much honor and awe.
JENN McKINLAY: I think if it was my job, I'd be dedicated and brave because I'd have chosen to put myself there. Like Debs, I travel alone all the time, in the U.S. and internationally, so being in foreign places doesn't make me nervous. I've also attended a lot of protests at the state capitol, where it can get pretty dicey but I chose to be there so, again, not afraid. That being said, I've never been in a war zone and since I did not choose war reporter as a profession I hope I never am!
JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: I am firmly in the cowardly camp. I'm a great believer in Gavin de Becker's The Gift of Fear, and if I'm in a place or with a person that feels off, I will yeet on out of there, no questions asked. Plus, I'm made for conciliation, not confrontation; I'm far more comfortable negotiating to the middle than arguing to a draw. Like Jenn, I've traveled a lot by myself and I've protested, but those don't require bravery, just common sense and alertness.
However, I'll echo Rhys: if my children were involved, all bets are off.
Red readers, how brave are you?
