Uncomfortable Encounter

“Mercenary for eight years, I was,” Stead said flatly. “Cyprus, Belgian Congo, few other bad spots.” He Laughed. “See the world, kill people.”(148) While waiting in line to board the Libya Air plane Horowitz began to talk with a man named Jim Stead who worked as a diver on an oil installation near Tripoli. They began to talk and Jim told Horowitz that he used to be a Mercenary. In this situation you would believe one would become uncomfortable or uneasy but Horowitz did just the opposite becoming incredibly intrigued. He looked at the mans tattoos and listened to the stories each one had and also looked at the man’s wounds which he so openly showed to Horowitz. They talked about the best gun for doing a “job”, and Horowitz soaked every single bit of information right up. When the landing card came asking religion though Horowitz was frightened to put down Jewish as his religion so he safely put Quaker and exited the plane, with Stead’s address and the invitation to his camp outside Tripoli. Horowitz again in this instance puts himself into a situation that may be seen as uncomfortable some but he has the ability to take information from a man and learn so much about the Middle Eastern culture. My question is why are people so willing to open up to just any stranger on a plane about being a mercenary? How does he have this ability to get people to open up and tell him things that should not be told to just any stranger? Or do they just tell it to everyone?
TH