S.I.T. (surveyor in torment)

I'd like to meet:

Lewis and Clark Anjin-san and Toranaga-sanJohn Steinbeck is a new one to the list. I love this excerpt from East of Eden:"I want to tell you a soldier gives up so much to get something back. From the day of a child's birth he is taught by every circumstance, by every law and rule and right, to protect his own life. He starts with that great instinct, and everything confirms it. And then he is a soldier and he must learn to violate all of this - he must learn coldly to put himself in the way of losing his own life without going mad. And if you can do it - and, mind you, some can't - then you will have the greatest gift of all. Look son, nearly all men are afraid, and they don't even know what causes their fear - shadows, perplexities, dangers without names or numbers, fear of a faceless death. But if you can bring yourself to face not shadows but real death, described and recognizable, by bullet or saber, arrow or lance, then you need never be afraid again, at least not in the same way you were before. Then you will be a man set apart from other men, safe where other men may cry in terror. This is the great reward. Maybe this is the only reward. Maybe this is the final purity all ringed with filth..."