The Foreign Service Journal, May 2003

58 F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L / M A Y 2 0 0 3 A few hours later Nina opened up the subject again. She toldme that she understood the game and that it wasn’t against the rules for Hasty to break the pact. But, she said, “I’ll never trust Hasty again.” That was a good conclu- sion for an 11-year-old to reach. She had learned a valuable lesson. I was pretty angry at Hasty myself but also at myself for not having had a backup plan. I believe that character is destiny. I had been caught in a bind of my own devising. Diplomacy isn’t the game for me. The game is designed to reward bad behavior and in that respect it isn’t a worthwhile game. Or so I found, anyway. Lessons Learned A couple of weeks later, after the game degenerated into recriminations and was abandoned (I wasn’t involved in that, since I was the first player to be eliminated), my anger towards Hastings Hunter abated. I told him about my conversations with Nina, my sweet child awakening to the com- plexity of the human heart. Hasty told me he was suffering inner turmoil over his betrayal of our pact. He had wrestled with conflicting impulses before deciding what to do. He said that Amb. Brinton had approached him before the game’s first round and suggested a mutual non-aggression pact between France and Russia. The first piece of it should be the confi- dence-building measure of a Russian move against Germany, while France would concentrate first on Italy. Russia meanwhile could neutralize Germany before pressing Austria- Hungary and the Ottoman Turks. Hasty said this loose pact had the advantage that he would be able to size things up for a couple of moves before having to decide whether to make a more detailed commitment. Besides, Brinton was the ambas- sador and if he wanted Hunter’s coop- eration, it was probably a good idea to give it to him. Compared to that con- sideration, the pact with me was expendable. Hasty had discussed it with his wife, who wasn’t strongly interested in the game of Diplomacy. She was concerned, however, that her husband’s conduct might make a dif- ference in their business and social relationships. If so, he might do well to think carefully about it. Hasty told her it was just a game, and in the game he was supposed to be devious and outwit the other players. His wife responded that if that was the case, he should go ahead and play to win. I thought Hasty was naive — in a different way than I had been — to think his conduct in the game would- n’t have repercussions outside the game, but before I could say so, Hasty did. He now believed he had made a mistake in breaking our pact — or maybe in agreeing to it in the first place. He now wished he had han- dled his moves in the game different- ly. He had thought about telling me that our deal was off before our moves were placed in the envelope, and maybe that’s what he should have done. The way it worked out, he did- n’t even want to win anymore. In fact, he’d rather not even continue playing. It wasn’t worth it; it wasn’t any fun. He felt bad about being the one to destroy a child’s illusions about relying on people’s word. It hadn’t escaped Hastings’ notice that I had kept my promise while he broke his. He told me that when he was deciding what move to make in the game, he convinced himself that I probably was setting him up for betrayal. That let him justify his own move partly as a way to make sure I couldn’t play him for a fool. “You’re a perfidious diplomat, after all, Larry,” he said, smiling. “And very competi- tive.” But he now saw that he had misread the situation and in his own eyes, as well as my daughter’s, he was not the man he wanted to be. As it turned out, Hasty’s advantage You Thought We Didn’t Exist ... ButWe Do!! No one does what we do quite the way we do it Mother/Daughter Owned & Operated Pied-A-Terre Properties, LTD Exclusive Interim Rentals Month to Month COMMENTS FROM OUR SATISFIED FOREIGN SERVICE CUSTOMERS: “Pied-A-Terre offers distinguished residences for the discriminating professional. I wholeheartedly recommend their services.” • Aaron Hellman “Pied-A-Terre staff were very attentive to any requests, and always responded right away to our needs.” • William Davidson “In an emergency situation, Pied-A-Terre provided a centrally located and comfortable apartment on very short notice — and welcomed our dog and cat. We're extremely grateful.” • Michael & Sheila Austrian “My friends all envied me and thought I had a great find — and so do I! When I come back for TDY training, I hope you’ll take me again!” • Constance Jones Phone (202) 338-3190 Fax (202) 332-1406 E-mail: dctemprent@aol.com