With the film ‘American Sniper’ about to premiere in the UK about a US military sniper here’s my short story on the subject, to illustrate the power of storytelling.

A short story. I met a couple outside a pub in London a few years ago, and by chance we got talking, and they told me about a good friend of their’s who had recently been working as a U.S. sniper.

Now their friend now no longer in the military, but they were worried about him, in particular he had been using a new expensive laptop in full view of people outside this very pub the day before, in a place where it was very easy for any passer-by to just grab it, and run off with the laptop. His friends said to me they didn’t understand how he could be so ‘careless’ and were at a loss what to do.

It seemed like they wanted me to say something; remembering something I replied that in my opinion their friend’s training and experience on the battle field as a sniper meant he had learned to shut himself off completely from any fear, and this mental state had clearly persisted into civilian life. This in my opinion explained why their friend had no worries using his laptop in such a cavalier way in public. They seemed to like my answer.