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Just to show you how screwed up it is, look at the flip side of the coin. I've talked to a nine-year-old child soldier in Congo who killed ten women, shooting them or slitting their throats.
(50 percent of soldiers in north-eastern Congo are under the age of 15. Some of them are as young as seven).
I was far more nervous of the children with guns, all of them drugged, than many of their adult superiors. The children are the cannon-fodder who do most of the fighting and most of the killing. They're less afraid and follow orders better. Looking into their eyes is a profoundly disturbing experience. They are glazed over, robbed of innocence, devoid of hope, filled with hatred and bloodlust.
Africa is a savage continent. It is also astonishingly beautiful. Most Westerners survive in Africa by escaping to the beautiful spots and shutting their eyes and closing their ears to the savagery. In fact most will deny the savagery exists. Any admission would rock the delusional little world they created to make them feel better about themselves.
Yes, you're right. To misquote Rhodes, being born American is to draw first prize in the lottery of life.