Saturday's Storyteller: "Did you know warriors were encouraged to marry each other so they'd protect each other more fiercely in combat?"
by Belinda Roddie Did you know warriors were encouraged to marry each other so they'd protect each other more fiercely in combat? It's true. It was encouraged in Sparta, for example. I'd like to think the only reason it stopped was because some of the warriors didn't feel like they were compatible with one another. And if they survived the conflict, well...the divorce proceedings would be pretty agonizing if it didn't work out post-war. Love's a funny thing, isn't it? Especially among soldiers. War can drag a lot out of us. Our health, our stamina, our sanity. Our ability to feel anything besides the need to survive and the need to kill. We become husks of our former selves under helmets and camo, and we try to fill in the empty space with machine guns and tanks and beer and cigarettes in between missions. But it's all just shallow. Impermanent. Not like love. Love is sustaining, keeps us nourished. Only it's dangerous, too. Love, I mean. I