Book
“Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing” … Benjamin Franklin
As a young man I seized on this short quotation from a well known American diplomat, philosopher and writer (from when we still produced such people). Taking on his challenge I realized that someday I would need to write about life, but I also realized that my best bet was to “do something worth reading” before I attempted to write about it. Anything else seemed pretentious. Writing would have to wait until I had lived a life worth writing about.
I would like to say that I had a plan and worked diligently to make that happen, but the truth is that I proceeded to sample what life had to offer, ultimately arriving at a point that I felt compelled to “write something worth reading” after a long and eventful life. Not that my life is over, it is only getting more interesting.
I have two passions in life. I love to travel, and to document what I see through photographs and writing. In addition, I have finished another memoir based on my life as a Peacekeeper which was published in July 2019.
After some twenty years as a United Nations Peacekeeper with assignments in Somalia, Iraq, Afghanistan and Sudan the author recounts this lifestyle in a highly readable adventure memoir. Negotiating with warlords in Somalia, staring down a child soldier in Sudan, avoiding arrest in Iraq or protecting refugees as they flee their burning homes are all too common occurrences. This personal account takes you across war torn continents and into the daily life of those rare individuals who put their life on the line to intervene and act on the part of the most vulnerable members of society. Complete with area maps and photos this is a rare insight into this well known and important but little understood life. U.N. Peacekeeping is one of the most effective ways to stabilize a society recovering from the devastation of war or the disruption of failed states. By sharing peacekeeping with member states of the U.N., the US saves at the rate of eight to one over the cost of going it alone. Additionally, peacekeeping and peacebuilding efforts are more acceptable to recipient societies when implemented by a mixed global force.
