While Encountering Conflict, Maintaining the Role of a Bystander Is Difficult

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After many years of me being a reported, I decided to call it quits. I remained in Vietnam with my lover, Phuong and decided to make the most of the rest of my life. After Pyle’s death we were both very startled, but for different reasons. She was upset and I was continuously alert because, well, I was the reason he was dead. How was I supposed to live with myself after that...? “Everything had gone right with me since he had died, but how I wished there existed someone to whom I could say that I was sorry” The London Times office invited me to lead a lecture to future reporters about how to remain as a bystander. I hadn’t been a journalist for a few years so I was a bit sketchy, but I agreed, only due to the fact that I wanted to inspire younger journalist and tell them about my times as a reporter, and to warn them about the risks of the job. “Welcome future reports, I would like to thank The London Times for inviting me to give you all a lecture. Today, my main objective will be to teach you all how to remain a bystander while encountering all types of conflict. I have been invited here because of my experiences over the years, and all the conflict I confronted during my years as a reporter, but as I learnt over the years, eventually, ‘you will take a side’”. “During my time in Vietnam, I met a young lad by the name of Pyle. ‘He was young and ignorant and silly and he got involved’ He got involved in a lot of things, which was the complete opposite of me. I told myself again, I was innocent”. “I’m not involved, not involved”. I constantly repeated this to myself, almost to convince myself. “The hardest part about being a reporter is remaining as a bystander in the situation you are reporting. I will admit, it is hard, I have been in situations where it is impossible, but those are the type of situations that test you the most. I took a deep breath. “But

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