I Worked for the State Department—Get It? Not the CIA. Or the NSA.

My hair stylist has just finished my monthly cut and turns to a man I haven’t met before, who’s sauntered into the shop. It’s a friend of hers. She introduces us and mentions that I write books and used to work for the State Department overseas.

The man, who seems truly interested, says, “Oh, the State Department. You were a spy?”

It’s not the first time someone has assumed that.

“Hardly,” I explain. “I was a lowly consular officer.” No one knows what that is, of course, so I offer my stripped down explanation. “I helped Americans overseas. Visited Americans in jail and hospitals and that sort of thing.”

I also have a grand collection of war stories about what it’s like to interview foreigners who want to come to the States—some legally, some illegally. Or what it’s like to be in Saudi Arabia during a war (twice). But I don’t want to bore people.

A column by Josh Shrager explains realistically what serving as a Foreign Service Officer (FSO) is like. Josh is a public affairs officer, one of several functions, of which consular is only one.

The Foreign Service life isn’t for everyone, but like a lot of FSO’s, I wouldn’t have traded my experiences for any other career. Although I do like to write novels.

How A French Guy Shakes Up the Dismal Science

I was into journalism and history when I attended college. I took one course in economics. I don’t remember whether the two major ways of making money were discussed: 1) income from investments and 2) wages from jobs. Economics, sometimes referred to as the Dismal Science, has seen new life this year after a book was published by Thomas Piketty, a French economist. The book, Capital in the Twenty-First Century, examines what happens when wealth from investments grows faster than wages from jobs. Specifically, does the society become more unequal?

Piketty concludes that when investment growth exceeds wage growth, inequality increases in a society. His proposed solutions are controversial, but many economists believe that Piketty’s findings of inequality are correct.

One reviewer, who agrees with the inequality finding but not the offered solutions, suggests that cultural factors are more significant in increasing the wealth of individuals (Tyler Cowen, Foreign Affairs, May/June 2014). He points to the tendency of immigrants’ offspring to advance far beyond their usually poorer forebears. Cowan is not suggesting that upbringing is the only answer to inequality. He offers other aids for reducing inequality such as limiting tax deductions and improving education. Nevertheless, his emphasis on child rearing brings a neglected issue to the discussion on income inequality.

If proper raising of children is so important to our society, why do we make it difficult for parents to spend necessary time with their offspring? Other countries allow working mothers long maternity leaves, some stretching to years, to be with their children during their beginning years. But wouldn’t fathers also profit from career breaks to be full time parents for a season?

Childhood only lasts a few years, a much shorter time than most careers.

 

 

Why the Flood of Children Across Our Border?

The flood of Central American children across the border into the United States recalls the troubled history of that region and our involvement in it.

One Central American country, Nicaragua, was ruled by the Somoza family for decades. After the family was deposed in a coup in 1979, the country became a battleground between leftist and rightist groups for years. Some of the rightist groups were supported by the United States.

In El Salvador, a brutal civil war lasted from 1980 until 1992. The Cubans under Fidel Castro supported one side, and the United States the other. Regardless of its Cold War cast, the people suffered atrocities that no one should have to endure. Óscar Romero, a bishop of the Catholic Church, preached against poverty, injustice, and the assassinations and torture that were occurring. He himself was assassinated while offering Mass in 1980. Four American nuns serving in El Salvador were raped and murdered during that time.

In Honduras, forces backed by the United States fought against a leftist government in another Cold War conflict. Today Honduras has one of the highest murder rates in the world.

The violence in the region which many of the children are fleeing may be seen as one legacy from so many years of armed conflict.

 

Malaysia Flight 17: Just Collateral Damage in the New World Order?

The tragic end of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17, which crashed Thursday, killing 298 passengers and crew, is a reminder of what some call “the new world order.” Evidence so far points to Flight 17’s downing by a rebel group in Ukraine, who may have thought they were shooting down a Ukraine military plane.

The new order challenges the bounds of the world order that came into favor at the end of World War II. The old order encourages representative government, fair trails, independent judicial systems, the will of the people over elites, and so on.

The new order operates with clandestine rules something like gang warfare. It is an in-between place of half truths or of outright lies told as truths, of might makes right. Ukraine is the latest battleground between the two orders.

Ukraine is a country left over from the Cold War. The progress of democracy in Ukraine since it left the failing Soviet Union in the heyday of the 1990’s was halting at best. Two steps backward followed one step forward. Corrupt leaders and their equally corrupt tycoon followers abetted the backward direction.

A movement apparently favored by a majority of Ukrainians (mostly Ukrainian speaking) recently tossed out the latest corrupt leader, who wanted to ally with Russia. They elected a new government. It signed an agreement with Europe, turning away from Russia. Russian speakers in the eastern part of Ukraine, unwilling to abide by the majority decision, rebelled and called on Russia for help.

Russia, still smarting from humiliation at losing the prestige it had during the Cold War, saw a chance to rebuild influence and territory. Russia has supported the rebels in various ways, short of outright invasion. The facts are murky as to how much help has been given. This type of situation illustrates “the new world order.” The strewn bodies of innocent victims is just collateral damage from what is really no order at all.

 

The Loyal Opposition: Can We Allow Dissent? (No, This Isn’t About Congress.)

Memories of the Cold War fade. Few of us remember coups allegedly carried out by covert operators of the United States during that time.

We were locked in a struggle with the Evil Empire, the Soviets. Who but historians and aging Cold War warriors remember the pawns in that struggle: Iran, the Congo, Pakistan, Chili?

In those countries in the long ago fifties and sixties, how much did United States covert action contribute to the unseating of democratically elected leaders? How much responsibility should we take for the results of their toppling and the often brutal dictators that replaced them? Or the corruption? Or the refugee flows that followed bloodletting?

The July/August 2014 issue of Foreign Affairs recounts those events by those who have studied them and sometimes were on the scene when they happened. In some instances, our reputation has exceeded what our agents on the ground actually did. Inept leaders contributed more than U.S. policy, stated or unstated. Nevertheless, the studies illustrate what happens when a nation beset by real enemies is carried away by hatred and paranoia.

As the studies show, the actions in question were usually opposed at each step by cooler, more rational actors. But they weren’t listened to. In some cases, they were steam rolled and even suffered loss of careers.

How much responsibility should we accept for the hostility to the United States that remains in those countries to this day?

 

Celebration, Pot, and Old Buildings

Our small town held a celebration/ribbon cutting for our newly reconstructed Second Street. The project provides widened sidewalks, new landscaping, and people friendly paths and gathering places.

The mayor spoke. Our city planner spoke. The officials and community leaders who birthed and shepherded the project were honored. The designers and construction crew received awards. The merchants who endured the five-month construction and frequent closing of the street were applauded. Local restaurants provided free food to the neighbors who chatted and celebrated.

Our town of a few square blocks is crammed with a city hall, library, grocery store, liquor stores, post office, three churches, restaurants, book shops, artist studios, medical offices, non profits, a public school, plus residences (single home and multiple), along with other stores and services. It reminds citizens and the tourists who flock here of small town America a century or so ago.

In fact, we are not an early twentieth century village. Current trends wash our shores, too. A business near our town was recently awarded one of the pot shops now allowed by Washington State’s new marijuana laws. We also are considering whether to replace one of our most historic buildings with a modern structure or let it stand, perhaps calling for expensive restoration.

I may agree or not with some of those trends, but that is not the issue here. The issue is how to live successfully in this age, not one of a century ago. If we live in harmony with our neighbors, some of whom we agree with and some of whom we don’t, then we will not only muddle through but enjoy the experience.

It takes a community.

 

An Eye for an Eye, a Tooth for a Tooth, a Child for a Child?

The saying is attributed to Mahatma Gandhi: “If we practice an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth, soon the whole world will be blind and toothless.”

I thought of these words when reading about the killings of teenagers in Israel/Palestine, both Israeli and Palestinian.

As I understand it, the original commandment in the Old Testament about requiring recompense for injury (“eye for eye” and so on) was originally intended to require ONLY strict accounting for a wrongdoing. The purpose was the avoidance of revenge reprisals that often spiral out of control.

Christ set the bar higher for his followers: “But I say to you, Love your enemies . . .”

I thought of his command when I read another quote:

“Whether Jew or Arab, who can accept the kidnapping and killing of his son or daughter? I call on both sides to stop the bloodshed.”

–HUSSEIN ABU KHDEIR, a Palestinian whose 16-year-old son was found dead a day after the burial of three Israeli teenagers who were kidnapped and killed. Quoted in The New York Times.

Shall we continue taking child for child until no children are left?

 

 

Are Americans Exceptional?

Samuel P. Huntington, a Harvard professor, wrote an article, “The West Unique, Not Universal” for Foreign Affairs in 1996. The Western alliance of nations had won the Cold War. With the collapse of the Soviet Union, everything from Coca-Cola to democracy appeared unstoppable. Soon American exceptionalism would conquer the globe, we believed.

Perhaps not. Huntington listed several unique ancestors of Western civilization: the classical legacy, Western Christianity, European languages, separation of spiritual and temporal authority, rule of law, social pluralism with its civil society, representative bodies, and individualism. Huntington believed that when strong leaders (like Kemal Ataturk in Turkey) attempt to force Westernization on their non-Western citizens, they create “torn” societies.

Consider the upheaval in Iran that caused the repudiation of the Shah’s ties to the United States in 1979. Or the fallout from the more recent Arab spring revolutions and the brutal conflicts in Syria and Iraq.

The West developed unique characteristics, whose foundations Americans built on to create their own society. Our exceptionalism matters little, however, if we ignore the uniqueness of other civilizations. Some, more ancient than Western ones, perceive society in different ways.

We would do better to serve as example, not exporter or enforcer.

 

 

Are We Created Equal?

“We hold these truths to be self-evident: That all men are created equal . . .” states the founding document of the United States, the Declaration of Independence.

Apparently some of our founders did not completely subscribe to this view. Thomas Jefferson, considered the primary author of the Declaration, owned slaves. So did others who signed the document.

America’s Civil War president, Abraham Lincoln, once responded to the question: Why did America’s founders not fulfill this principle of equality?

Lincoln is reported to have replied: “Ah, it’s like Jesus’ words. ‘Be ye perfect as your Father in heaven is perfect.’ It is not that Jesus thought we were perfect or are perfect but that this is really a road on which we are to progress toward perfection.”

We might advance beyond our current political paralysis if we swapped political sound bytes for reasoning together, since, indeed, none of us has yet reached perfection.

Setting Up Households Versus Forming Communities

Tender Shadows Cover“Back then marriage was two families coming together in a kind of joyous celebration, at least in our case. Nowadays a couple of kids meet at a party and set up housekeeping together. Maybe we didn’t prepare our daughter for that kind of world.”

–Joe Harlan in Tender Shadows

 

Parents may experience a disconnect with their children during the teenage years. Some of the disconnect is healthy. The passage into adulthood requires a measure of independence and the ability to think for oneself. But for some the passage is traumatic and even tragic.

A few parents give up on their children, even before the teenage years. In some cases, they never took responsibility for the children they created. In others, parents are besieged with other problems (loss of job, single parenthood, aging parents, and so own) and cannot cope with everything life tosses their way.

For whatever reason, not all of us are gifted with caring families. Yet most of us crave community. If we don’t find healthy communities, we will find unhealthy ones—drug gangs, those based on dysfunctional relationships, even terrorist groups.

A few days ago, I saw several women walking together down my street. Two were pushing baby strollers. Young mothers sharing exercise and conversation? Non-Facebook friending? I bet the children in those strollers have a good chance to live successful lives, especially if their families continue to share friendship with other families. Forming communities doesn’t have to be complicated. Simple friendship goes a long way

 

How A Death Led to a Few Books Becoming Many

Anne Smedinghoff’s colleagues wanted to mark the one year anniversary of her death. Anne, a twenty-five-year-old diplomat, was killed with several other Americans, in 2013 by a car bomb while delivering books to a school in Afghanistan.

The colleagues and their friends, stationed in various U.S. missions all over the world, did the following:

—In Islamabad, Pakistan, they raised $1,300 to buy books for a local non profit that educates street children.

—In Prague, Czech Republic, they collected over 100 books for a university library.

—From the U.S. mission in Jerusalem, they visited a West Bank school and donated sets of English and Arabic books to children there.

—In Lima, Peru, volunteers collected dozens of books to start a library in a daycare center and shelter.

—In Abu Dhabi, they donated over 200 books to a rural school.

—In Riga, Latvia, they gave books to an alternative family home that supports children in need.

—in Arlington, Virginia, USA, they established a scholarship fund in her name.

—in Sáo Paulo, Brazil, they donated funds to establish a library in a low income school.

—In two missions in Mexico, they held a reading series in a local school and helped build a home for a mother and her three children.

Hate-filled people killed Anne and destroyed the books bound for the school in Afghanistan, but more books are now in the hands of those who lacked them than were ever destroyed by that car bomb.

Wrongs cannot be undone. But wrongs may be overcome, not by revenge, but by acts of compassion.

 

Two Quotes on Iraq, Twenty Years Apart

1994:

“Once you got to Iraq and took it over, and took down Saddam Hussein’s government, then what are you going to put in its place? That’s a very volatile part of the world, and if you take down the central government of Iraq you can easily end up seeing pieces of Iraq fly off. Part of it the Syrians would like to have to the west. Part of eastern Iraq, the Iranians would like to claim, fought over for eight years. In the north you’ve got the Kurds, and if the Kurds spin loose and join with the Kurds in Turkey, then you threaten the territorial integrity of Turkey. It’s a quagmire.”

–Dick Cheney, former member, U.S. House of Representatives from Wyoming

2014:

“We have been engaged in the Islamic world at least since 1980, in a military project based on the assumption that the adroit use of American hard power can somehow pacify or fix this part of the world. We can now examine more than three decades of this effort.

Let’s look at what U.S. military intervention in Iraq has achieved, in Afghanistan has achieved, in Somalia has achieved, in Lebanon has achieved, in Libya has achieved. I mean, ask ourselves the very simple question. Is the region becoming more stable? Is it becoming more democratic? Are we alleviating, reducing the prevalence of anti-Americanism?”

–Andrew Bacevich; Professor of International Relations and History at Boston University

 

Iraq: How Do We Sort Out the Mistakes?

According to polls I have seen, most Americans now wish we had not invaded Iraq in 2003.

We lost lives and treasure, yet the reason given for the war—weapons of mass destruction—turned out to be a fabrication. No such weapons existed.

The reason proposed for our military campaign then became the chance to rid the country of a brutal dictator and establish democracy. Saddam Hussein was indeed destroyed. Democracy, however, appears a long shot.

Our foray into Afghanistan is far from a success story, but at least, as the country from which the terrorist attacks of 9/ll were launched, a basis existed for our military involvement. Some of our policies were unwise, and our belief in our power to change the country were unrealistic. However, an election with some rudiments of democracy, has occurred, albeit with the usual complaints of fraud.

Now Iraq is again on our radar screen, in a spillover from the Syrian tragedy.

We have invested heavily in that part of the world. Our past mistakes almost guarantee that whatever we do there in the near future has minimal chance for success. Whoever touches the region most likely will suffer political fallout because we tend to demand perfect solutions, and none exists in this case.

WeaponsGive weapons to the moderate forces in Syria? How do we keep the weapons from falling into the hands of the region’s extremists, as may be happening now in Iraq. Once provided, weapons cannot be recalled like peanut butter jars from a factory that we discover has sprouted salmonella.

Neither can our past foreign policy mistakes.

 

How Do We Love When We Have Reasons to Hate? Two Examples:

 

Seattle Pacific University released a letter from Jon Meis, known for his heroic actions in the recent school shooting there. Mr. Meis is credited with confronting the man who had just killed one student, wounded two others, and was reloading his weapon. Police say Mr. Meis likely prevented other deaths, perhaps many. Included in his letter is the following:

“. . . I would encourage that hate be met with love. When I came face to face with the attacker, God gave me the eyes to see that he was not a faceless monster, but a very sad and troubled young man. While I cannot at this time find it within me to forgive his crime, I truly desire that he will find the grace of God and the forgiveness of our community.”

The family of the murdered student, Paul Lee, want to begin a foundation in their son’s name, aimed at raising awareness and support for the kind of person accused of taking Mr. Lee’s life. Mr. Lee, they said, planned on a psychology major and a career to help those troubled as the accused attacker appears to be.

What if more of us asked for the gift to see those who would harm us, not as “faceless monsters,” but as damaged humans in our image? To prevent their actions but not hate them? What if we searched for ways to help such troubled individuals before they commit crimes?

Fruitcakes and Novels

Fruitcake

 

My high school band sold fruitcakes to raise money for band trips. We went door to door in our neighborhood (wearing our band uniforms on a Saturday morning) extolling the merits of those creations from the south Georgia pecan belt. I hated every minute of it.

 

 

 

Tender-Shadows-Cover-200x300

 

 

Now the publisher of my novels has gifted me with a promotion (a priceless gem these days when most books are self-promoted). Friday, June 13, the first day of the promotion, you can buy the Kindle edition of my latest novel, Tender Shadows, for $1.99. The next day, Saturday, June 14, Tender Shadows sells for $2.99. Sunday, June 15, the price is $3.99. Then it goes back to the still reasonable price of $4.99.

Buy from Amazon.com

 

I’m trying, am I not? But I still cringe when faced with marketing. Marketing asks people to give up something, usually money, but also time, perhaps even more precious.

Why would someone choose to expend these precious commodities to read my novels or write reviews of them or even read my blogs? Given the new world created by the internet, novels proliferate like eighteenth century political tracts. Blogs are as prevalent as misty droplets in a Seattle winter.

Nevertheless, unless you are as famous as Stephen King, you do it. Authors write. Authors sell.

One thing in my favor: I don’t like fruitcake, but I love to read. And write.

How Hope Overwhelms the Shootings at Seattle Pacific University

Which of us hasn’t sorrowed at the school shootings which seem to happen regularly these days? The one at Seattle Pacific University two days ago, however, especially affected me.

Seattle is the closest major city to my home. More than that, I’ve attended a writers’ conference there. I receive SPU’s Response magazine each quarter in the mail. I’ve quoted from it in this blog. I know at least one writer on the staff there. Each week, a guided Bible reading from the school arrives in my inbox that I use in my daily devotions.

SPU is affiliated with the Free Methodist denomination. The college lays great stress on the connection between faith and service in the wider world.

According to news reports, a lone gunman entered a building on campus and killed one person and seriously wounded two others. Another student is credited with saving more individuals from harm by attacking the gunman with pepper spray and disarming him.

What stands out for me in this tragic episode is not only the heroism of the student who dared confront the gunman. Even more significant for me are the images of hundreds of students from the university sitting afterwards in circles on the SPU campus holding hands and praying. They comforted each other in huddles. They gathered together for prayer in a nearby church.

I’m sure every student at SPU at this time will live forever influenced by this event. However, those students reacting to tragedy by coming together in spiritual community send a stronger message. They convince me that a force stronger than evil is loose in this world and will ultimately prevail.

Dealing with Bodily Fluids, or How I Learned To Speed Read

 

I suppose it’s healthier that we reflect our angst in our literature rather than repressing it and pretending all is well. I’m not sure about all of the trends, though. Our plunge into pessimism is mirrored by a plunge into the four-letter morass of bodily excretion in all its forms. Words that appeared in mainstream writing only for a bit of spice are now as common as allergies in the spring.

Along with the old four letter words, casual sex proliferates. In our work-a-day world, such casual sex now is common, along with obesity, possibly not a coincidence. Ours is not an age known for self-discipline.

I began reading one of our postmodern novels for a book club and found myself skimming along, just to understand enough of the plot for discussion. It wasn’t just the language. The protagonists were about as attractive as piranhas, mirroring, I suppose, our disillusion with cardboard heroes and heroines. Surely, fiction can be realistic without deleting all hope?

What came at me was not so much the words as the anger. I don’t mean anger at obvious wrong. This anger seemed to come from lack of purpose.

Maybe that’s the foundation for much of our current writing: unresolved anger. We are geared to find purpose and meaning. When we find that the objects we pursue only for pleasure turn out to be meaningless, anger overwhelms us.

What Is This Place Named Tiananmen Square?

 

Tiananmen Square 1989 One million protestersYou may see the term “Tiananmen Square” frequently in the news this next week. A quarter century ago, a movement in that square in Beijing, China, for more democracy, was crushed by authorities in June, 1989. Hundreds of students are estimated to have been killed, perhaps more.

The watershed year 1989, however, was not over. In the autumn, countries in eastern Europe, starting with Poland, erupted with “democracy fever,” leading to their departure from the Soviet Union. Before the year ended, tentative beginnings toward democratic governments in these countries stumbled forward.

Tiananmen Square 1989 Military assaultSpring, 1989, had seen the movement in China smothered by the military. However, in November of that same year, the barrier between East and West Germany in Berlin—”the Wall”—fell.

More recently, Arab movements toward more inclusive governments appear to have birthed more failures than successes. And what about Ukraine?

The story continues to write itself—successes and failures—but it’s not over. We wait for more chapters. In the meantime, read a moving story from an American who was in Tiananmen Square at the time.

Where the Spoils System Is Alive and Well

 

Years ago the comic strip Doonesbury ran a segment lampooning the political appointment of U.S. ambassadors. In the storyline, government officials of an unnamed country strive to maintain secret connections with a lower level American diplomat. They seek to bypass the appointed ambassador, a know-nothing doofus named because he gave money to a political campaign.

One might expect corrupt dictatorships to send politically connected hacks to serve as ambassadors. But do we want to imitate them?

Map of NATO countriesHow about our democratic allies? What kind of people do these countries appoint as ambassadors TO the United States? According to a recent study of ambassadors from NATO countries (May 2014 issue of The Foreign Service Journal), not a single one serving at the time was politically appointed.

Peter Bridges, a retired career ambassador, wrote in a recent article on the Internet: “In all of our republic’s history, only one career Foreign Service officer has ever been our ambassador to the United Kingdom—our most important ally. . . . In contrast, the British almost invariably send one of their most experienced career diplomats to Washington.”

On average, around one third of U.S. ambassadors are appointed for political reasons, usually because they give money to political campaigns. Democratic and Republican presidents are equally guilty in the appointment of favorites instead of career Foreign Service officers who’ve spent years serving in countries all over the world and learning how to deal with foreign governments.

We don’t appoint generals because they give money to a political party. Even in corporations, where money matters a great deal, managers usually are chosen for their skills. Why should it be different for ambassadors?

Of course, political ambassadors are generally not appointed to dangerous countries like Libya, where career ambassador Chris Stevens was murdered by terrorists.

Tender Shadows: Risking Community in a World Falling Apart

 

As in most of my writing, I don’t know how Tender Shadows began. Writing for me is a bit like breathing, I just do it.

I seem to remember questioning our throw-away society: how we throw away more than plastic bottles and last year’s iPads. Politicians ride a crest of popularity, then fade. Celebrities become our idols until some scandal does them in. Sometimes we throw away families.

Tender Shadows CoverThe characters in Tender Shadows differ in background and purpose and choices. They mirror society in the early twenty-first century. They include the digitally adept and the digitally challenged, the athletic and those who struggle to keep off extra pounds, the confident and the searchers.

Beth, staring at middle age in a few years time, hopes to grab what she can from a life first of loss and then of aimless wandering. Joe, widowed, doesn’t want any other woman competing with memories of his beloved wife. Joe’s daughter, Annie, recovers from a past mistake—only was it a mistake? David, a young Palestinian-American, ignores his growing affection for Annie because he’s not worthy of tenderness after what he did in Iraq.

Thrown together at a U.S. embassy in what is supposed to be a peaceful assignment in a country friendly to the United States, they creep toward community. They share but constantly bump up against barriers which impede that sharing.

They watch increasing signs that not all citizens of this prosperous Gulf nation are pleased with their young ruler’s American ideas. Many fear the erosion of traditional values. The Americans wonder how threatened are their own values.