007 without the walther ppk or aston-martin
i had dinner last night with giandomenico picco, who is a former undersecretary-general of the un, former chief hostage negotiator for the un, and an absolutely brilliant guy. the conference on world affairs athenaeum brought this guy to campus, and my good friend juli steinhauer, co-chair of the conference, seated mr. picco at the dinner table where i and several other cwa volunteers were sitting. the man is absolutely fascinating. he told us about being held hostage, blindfolded, in beirut when he offered to exchange himself for the other hostages, and about driving at 150 kph at night across the syria-israel (i think) border. and i think most interestingly, he told us how he believes that history never repeats itself, that people who say that are just looking for an easy way out; and so many other things that i can't remember at this early hour. but, he would say, that doesn't matter because regardless of what i may have learned from him, every challenge i encounter will be unique, and i must deal with them on my own terms.