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If S.B. sometimes railed against Western customs, treating democracy as if it was a euphemism for bad faith, red tape, and diplomatic evasiveness, this was not because he put himself above the lway, ready to waive constitutional procedures, or ignore the views of others. It simply reflected his impatience with indecisiveness, and his aristocratic heritage. It was his pride in this heritage that led him, as an eleven year old boy to stand up to Mr. Vincent's disparaging conflation of Kuranko and savages. To be Kuranko was, as his father had told him, the only conceivable way of being a man. But when S. B. invoked Kuranko-ness, it was not some form of tribalism that he had in mind, but the values he held dear-- not only forthrightness, stoicism, hard work, and self-reliance, but also honesty, generosit, and fidelity to one's principles. Pertinently, it was S. B. many years ago, who provided me with a not implausible etymology for the word Kuranko. "It iwas from the kure tree," he said, "whose wood is very hard."Thus, to say kure n'ko is to imply that the speaker is tough-minded, able to withstand all kinds of hardships, and persevere, like the kure tree.
