“But it’s not that: we seem to be incapable of insisting, that’s the meat of it. We are a race of headlong altruists. We rush to a foreign land in a deluge of embattled sympathy, we give away clothing, cigarettes, our rations. We even on occasion”—and his eyes sparkled—“repair the battered living quarters of certain comely French civilians. We do everything in our power to proclaim our good intentions, our nobility of purpose, our loftiness of soul … and all because we think we’re too good for the rest of the world.” “Is that the reason?” “Yes, more or less. We can’t be bothered with the
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