Nationhood In The Facebook Age

 

A couple of years before he died, the diplomat Richard Holbrooke wrote: “The United States is still great. It deserves leadership worthy of its people, leadership that will restore the nation’s pride and sense of purpose. That task must begin at home, but the world will be waiting and watching.” (Foreign Affairs, September/October, 2008.)

Holbrooke began his diplomatic career with a tour in Vietnam. Later, after he left the U.S. Foreign Service, various presidents called on him to perform hard tasks. The most famous were the 1995 Dayton peace talks that ended the Balkan wars.

He understood what it meant when the United States no longer won decisive victories. He was serving, even as he died, as the government’s point man on Afghanistan. He knew the limits of our power in a world where other countries were becoming strong and prosperous, too.

The complexity of today’s world means a few individuals can cause havoc. Terrorist attacks or the ending of a dictator’s power by crowds inspired through social networking—the rules have changed since the battles of the twentieth century.

The mighty British empire over two centuries ago was unable to force a ragtag bag of American colonials to do what it wanted. It wisely left the fray and allowed its former colony to go its own way.

We still have power, but we need wisdom in the use of that power. We first need to strengthen our institutions at home, to see that ordinary people can build decent lives. We win more permanent battles by the moral influence we possess than by our weapons.

New Ambassador To Libya

 

Deborah Jones is the new United States ambassador to Libya. She steps into the spot vacant since the former ambassador, J. Christopher Stevens, was killed in that country by terrorists.

Ms. Jones, sworn in by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, closed her swearing in ceremony with these words:

“Our tragedies reveal our strengths. If I were to ask those in this audience who have lost a Foreign Service friend or colleague, officer, TDY, Civil Service employee, or FSN-LES staff to an act of violence to raise your hands, I suspect many hands would go up. And I am also certain the same people would raise those same hands to volunteer for duty again, just as Chris, Sean, Anne, my mentor, Arnie Raphel, and so many others have done.

“So I hope you will join me in a virtual toast to these individuals. To Chris, to Sean, Ty, Glen, Anne, Arnie and to all those dear friends, colleagues, mentors, and family members who serve, because that’s who we are and that’s what we do. ”

 

Villains and Choices

 

My stories have villains, of course. I won a blog contest for best betrayal of a villain in my book Singing in Babylon. While portraying the villain’s evil intentions, I attempted to trace the reasons for his choice of evil. The villain chose unwisely after a wrong done to his family. A commendable trait, loyalty to family, became evil through the way he dealt with it.

Sometimes the villain is internal. Kaitlin Sadler’s early life was torn apart by tragedy in A Sense of Mission. Though she finds healing within the love of those around her, she struggles through the next few years with the inability to enjoy life to the fullest, sapped by the fear of evil that seems stronger than life. Kaitlin finally chooses to sacrifice fear for faith when she risks a new calling.

Fiction allows us to wrestle with evil through the lives of characters caught in its grip. The greatest stories give us hope that evil can be defeated through good. The recent movie version of Les Miserables depicts the thief, Jean Valjean, forever changed through one act of kindness. The kindness required sacrifice on the part of the benefactor. To turn evil to good may require such sacrifice, a giving up of possessions or of some part of the self.

Subversives

 

From the time native Americans dealt with British immigrants in the 1500’s at Jamestown and later at Plymouth, diverse peoples have migrated to the country to be known as the United States. Many of the early immigrants were Christians of various Protestant persuasions. Jews entered, too, as well as Catholics and a few atheists and agnostics. Some of the founding fathers were desists, a belief based on reason rather than revelation.

After the United States was formed, Europeans looked askance at the U.S. Constitution for not creating an established church. Surely the nation would fail, lacking any moral compass.

Instead, religion flourished in America. Roman Catholics and Orthodox Christians immigrated in larger numbers, escaping turmoil in the old countries. Catholicism bothered some Protestants, with its ties to Pope and priests, but eventually Catholics were incorporated into the mainstream.

By the time of the Second World War, the majority of Americans wouldn’t have disagreed with their designation as a “Christian” nation, or at least a Judo-Christian one.

The aftermath of that war and the ones to follow again upset established suppositions. Buddhists, Hindus, and Muslims joined the American mix.

Now, it seems, atheism is the latest bubble in the cauldron. As noted, atheists have been present since earlier times, but they have increased in number. According to some reports, the “angry” phase has passed, and the presence of atheism is accepted by many as a part of the mainstream.

Whenever a group loses dominant status, its members may fight to retain their position by the use of laws and/or force. Such a reaction is seldom successful in this country. The freedom from religion as well as to practice any religion runs deeply. However, if Christians take the early church for their example, they will not only survive but thrive. The early church was a subversive minority in a pleasure seeking world directed by elitist power brokers. They showed their faith, not by seeking domination, but by living what they believed.

Christians have been here before. The Roman Empire knew them well.

Rescuing Evangelical

 

I can remember growing up in the South during the Civil Rights movement. Some white churches thought that the mixing of the races was a sin. They said they didn’t believe in mistreating blacks, but that God meant for the races to be separate like he had created them.

Most members of those churches considered themselves “evangelicals.” One of the legacies of that time is the narrow view of evangelicals by the media and general public which endures to this day. Evangelicals often are considered bigoted individuals. News analyses during the last presidential election constantly examined the “evangelical” vote and attempted to tie it to the Republican party.

In fact, evangelicals voted for both parties. We might consider a new definition of evangelical that excludes a political designation.

Jim Wallis, editor-in-chief of Sojourners, suggests that many of those voting for Obama were, in fact, evangelicals. Just not white evangelicals. Blacks, Hispanics, and Asian-Americans voted overwhelmingly for Obama, but many in these groups consider themselves evangelical.

Evangelical, he says, is not a political term, as we have tried to make it. It’s a theological commitment that places Christ at its center.

Maybe those of us who designate ourselves evangelicals should question whether we have been serving Caesar rather than Christ.

Fun’s Done

 

This is the age

of the half-read page

The quick hash

And the mad dash

The bright night

And the nerves tight

The plane hop

And the brief stop

The lamp tan

In a short span

The big shot

In a good spot

The brain strain

And the heart pain

The cat naps

‘Til the spring snaps

And the fun’s done.

–Virginia Brasier, “Rat Race,” The New Yorker, November 23, 1957

Life in 1957 included no email, cell phones, or digital tablets. Two-career households were not the norm. If life was a rat race then, what term would you use now to describe our frenetic lives?

Michael Hyatt suggests some positive disciplines to unwind our digital selves.

1.The discipline of rest.

2.The discipline of reflection.

3.The discipline of reading.

4.The discipline of relationships.

5.The discipline of recreation.

Classified Leaks and Trust

 

In the past, social critics wrote tracts calling for change or published underground newspapers. The more violent assassinated national leaders. Today they leak classified information to the Internet.

Debate rages as to heroes and villains, constitutional rights and the necessity to know all we can about shadowy enemies. Certainly, secrecy is harder to come by.

The line is always fine between the openness needed for democratic governance and the secrecy required for certain operations. Legitimate reasons for secrecy range from stopping terrorist actions to negotiations that are best begun in secret when officials can be open and frank. They can speak uninhibited by the hype and hyperbole of the twenty-four hour news cycle—when every syllable must be carefully nuanced.

When I worked overseas for the U.S. State Department, I wrote classified reports, but they didn’t deal with state secrets or clandestine sources. Most reported on the welfare of Americans in foreign prisons or the children of American parents, children now living with foreign ex-spouses.

These narratives concerned the anguish of individual Americans caught in painful situations. They detailed private moments, not the plots you see in spy films. The subjects deserved their privacy. As all our secrets are indiscriminately vomited into cyberspace, perhaps private moments will no longer be possible.

What happens when individualism destroys all trust in our institutions? All ability to work privately? When we no longer allow institutions to function because we no longer understand their legitimate purposes? David Brooks poses and answers such questions in a recent column. A must read.

NEETS: Not in Employment, Education, or Training

 

According to a recent article in The Economist, a quarter of 15-to-24-year-old young people in the world are NEETS, not working or preparing for work. Other youth not counted as NEETS are underemployed or working in low level jobs where they learn few skills.

Perhaps fifteen percent of this age group in the more developed countries are NEETS, their numbers increased by the recession. Particularly in southern Europe, where growth has all but stopped, the jobless rate of NEETS is much higher than fifteen percent.

Studies in the United States indicate that joblessness among youth adversely affects their careers all their lives. They earn less, are more subject to intermittent unemployment, and develop fewer skills. They are less able to save for old age. The longer the joblessness, the more traumatic the results and the more likely these results are to harm the next generation.

Yet, in some surveys, more than half of companies surveyed in the developed world say they cannot find enough skilled workers for their entry-level jobs. Many commentators have warned that our economy will be permanently scarred and will suffer permanent decline if we do not invest more in the education and training of our youth.

 

Activists and Observers

 

One of my characters in the novel I’m working on is a young man, an American but raised much of his life in other cultures. He wishes only to remain in the United States all of his life, to write screen plays about the country which so fascinates him. “I’m not American the way you and the others are,” he says. “I know it as an observer.”

He sees himself as an observer of his native culture, not only because he is a cultural nomad himself but because he is a writer. I believe many writers, including myself, see themselves as observers rather than activists.

I sometimes feel guilty because of my introverted nature which flees, not only from conflict, but from normal actions which call attention to myself. I would rather write an essay encouraging reconciliation between different factions than join a protest for either one. The truth is, I often understand both groups and wish I could explain them to each other.

So I write as a minority in competing groups. I began my Christian journey at the age of nine and am kept on that journey by God’s grace. Nevertheless, at times I seem an exile from both “Christian” America and from secular America. I trace the journey with my characters as they find a way to live the subversive Christian life. I play interpreter. In my more optimistic moments I dare hope to be a reconciler.

Syria? New Candidate For The Blame Game?

 

If the United States gives weapons to the Syrian rebels, they may fall into the hands of terrorists. If we don’t give weapons to Syrian rebels, Syria may become a terrorist state. If diplomatic solutions are pursued, they may fail. If we don’t act now, bad things may happen. If we do act now, different bad things may happen.

As many have said, Syria presents no good options. Ethnic conflict has developed which is difficult to put back into the bottle. It has spilled over into Turkey, Jordan, Lebanon, and Israel. No doubt some options are better than others, but it may be a while before we know if we have chosen the right one. And even the right one is bound to be less than ideal.

Perhaps we should just go for the “best bad idea.” Only, it is doubtful that the ending will be as happy as the Academy Award winning tale of the rescue of six Americans from Iran in 1979.

A problem for Americans is our belief in the quick, happy ending, as in the movie. Always. A way must exist for the Syrian crisis to be resolved peacefully, democratically, and justly. Preferably in a few weeks. If not, we must find a villain.

Americans want their leaders to make perfect decisions when no such decisions exist. Sometimes, because of the unfortunate political reality of today, leaders make no decisions or make them later than they should. They know fallout is going to result whatever they do. Each political party will attempt to make political mileage out of  it.

“Politics stops at the water’s edge,” is attributed to Republican Senator Arthur Vandenberg in 1947. The idea is that partisan politics stops at the water’s edge, since both parties should desire the best for the country and present a united front in facing the nation’s foreign policy problems.

Alas, Senator Vandenberg, where are you now?

 

Religious Freedom, Ours and Theirs

 

The U.S. State Department recently released the annual Religious Freedom reports. The reports measure the freedom to worship or not, according to one’s conscience, in nations around the globe.

Sudden conflict and shifts in population movements bring us into greater interaction with those whose beliefs differ from our own. We may feel threatened, even angered, by the realization that our beliefs are not as widespread as we thought.

How do we remain firm in our own beliefs while allowing others to believe differently? Allowing religious freedom does not mean that we must live an amalgamated religion, with the unique particulars of our personal faith stripped out. Such a system is like an “established” religion, eliciting lukewarm response.

The early Christians in the Roman Empire lived in a pluralistic world much like our own, yet remained firm in their faith, even in persecution. They followed a Christ who refused to use political means to bring in his kingdom, even if it meant crucifixion. Without political power, they lived their faith and attracted others. Their very powerlessness to force their religion on others was a blessing. Indeed, when they later gained power, the faith of many lost meaning, becoming merely a superficial part of their culture.

The best way to destroy the heart of a religion is to force it on others. When we act as God, we usurp his power. If he is God, he is more than capable of working through the lives we live and our nonviolent witness. We do not need to take up the sword for him or use laws and prisons as cudgels. A person sure in his or her beliefs lives by faith, not by worldly power.

Cyber Hate: Wrongs With No Faces

 

My computer picked up a virus even though I have anti-virus protection. I took it to our local techie to clean it up. Some of today’s powerful viruses, she said, can make it through normal anti-virus software.

One who wishes to cause harm can now perpetuate wrong against nameless, faceless victims in record numbers. Was the person who caused the infection to my computer angry at a wrong done to him or her? Were they in rebellion against society or the government? Simply a hacker who does these things for the fun of it? Safe to say that they did not know me, had never met me.

The damage to my computer data was minimal and quickly repaired. But people’s lives can be threatened if power outages happen in more serious circumstances: to electric grids or hospitals.

The news is full of the new combat, cyberwar. Enemies fight through the ether, striving to destroy vital networks.

Perhaps in a society where we increasingly communicate through devices instead of face-to-face, such developments are inevitable. Human nuances and vulnerabilities are filtered out.

What can alleviate our detachment from others? We need more than ever the small face-to-face groups. Families, faith nurturing, and communities are as essential to survival, surely, as the digital grids we depend on.

What Do I Have If I Am All That I Have?

 

A monster storm in the Midwest takes lives, including those of babies and children, and destroys multitudes of homes. A neighbor’s house burns and she loses all her possessions. A report in The Seattle Times outlines the fault lines for earthquakes in our region. Refugees in various parts of the world carry a few pitiful belongings as they leave homes and vocations, fearing for their lives.

It becomes less of a cliche now to talk of the impermanence of things. Where, then, is the non-thing center we hold to?

Impossible to know how those of us still blessed with sufficient physical possessions will react if we become those people we now examine through the news and social media. With varying shades of sympathy we pause. We may shed tears or even contribute to the Red Cross before heading off to find out about the Arias murder trial or the latest political hype.

But what’s left if we lose all except our lives? Will we bemoan the loss of our wide screen television if our loved ones are taken? If loved ones are, thankfully, accounted for, we might then concern ourselves with finding a secure place to eat, wash, find a bathroom, and sleep.

If those basic needs are met and family safe, what remains from former lives? What is the center that remains?

I don’t know, of course. I can only speculate. Perhaps it’s coincidence, but I’ve been reading The Cost of Discipleship by Dietrich Bonhoeffer. He was a Christian pastor who was hung by the Nazis in 1945 for his opposition to Nazism. His discussion about giving up all one possesses for the one “pearl of great price” begins to penetrate.

 

How Many American Bodies?

 

How many American bodies had he sent home in the course of his career? Neal Hudson had not kept count, but he figured it must be close to fifty.

Dept of StateSo begins my novel, Distant Thunder, the story of Neal Hudson, a U.S. Foreign Service professional. Distant Thunder, like several of my books, deals with a Foreign Service officer, the official name for a U.S. diplomat. Most Americans have no idea our government has a Foreign Service. Thus, I often create a scene in my novels in which the officer has to explain what he or she does.

On rare visits to the States, strangers he’d meet in a hotel or a car rental would ask what he did for a living. He’d fumble around trying to explain. “I’m a consular officer.”

Raised eyebrows. “Oh?”

“A Foreign Service officer.”

“In the military, you mean?”

No, Neal says, and explains about overseas Americans and how Foreign Service officers notify loved ones when an American citizen dies overseas. They see that bodies are sent home. They visit imprisoned Americans and American children living with non-American parents. They perform more mundane tasks, acting as a notary in foreign countries and renewing passports.

Neal serves as a consular officer. Other specialities include political, economic, administrative, and security, to name a few.

Like professionals everywhere—firefighters, police officers, the military, nurses—Foreign Service officers are proud of their service and can never fully explain it to the uninitiated. The interweaving of tragedy, comedy, and an occasional happy ending with a touch of the exotic provides infinite plots for story telling.

Algeria Haunting

 

My assignment in 1993 to the U.S. embassy in Algiers, Algeria, lasted only about three months. During that brief period, I served as notetaker on an official trip to the western part of the former French colony in North Africa.

We traveled through rounded brown hills that reminded me of the wheat growing region of Washington State’s Palouse. However, an occasional abandoned farmhouse scarred the landscape, left from the bitter civil war between Algeria and France from 1954 to 1962.

Thousands on both sides lost their lives. Torture was common. After the French defeat, the French settlers in Algeria, some of whose families had been there for more than a century, left and wandered France like the exiled Acadians of Longfellow’s poem, “Evangeline” They were called Pieds-Noirs, “black-feet,” a sometimes derisive term that denoted their farming background.

Our official trip in 1993 was shortened when we learned of a terrorist incident in Algiers. Though we did not know it then, the incident foreshadowed a second reign of terror, this time  by insurgents against the native Algerian government. An election which threatened to put an Islamist party into power had been cancelled by the government.

A few weeks after our official trip, our embassy evacuated many of the staff, as the insurgency increased, making travel difficult. I left Algeria and never returned.

Some Christian monks who had remained in Algeria were murdered by extremists in 1996. The French movie “Of Gods and Men” is a fictionalized account of the tragedy. The Algerian farmers who were there for so long were mostly Catholic, of course, though the monks served their mainly Muslim neighbors.

I remembered our passage through a village on our long-ago trip. I noticed a building which could only have been a church at one time but wasn’t anymore. I wondered when the last Christian service was held there. Who attended? Where did they go?

Middle East Connectors

 

In a recent speech, William J. Burns, Deputy Secretary for the U.S. State Department, said: “The Middle East is a place where pessimists seldom lack for either company or validation, where skeptics hardly ever seem wrong. It is a place where American policymakers often learn humility the hard way.”

As Burns pointed out, the recent revolutions in that part of the world have unloosed ancient hatreds and ethnic conflicts, most tragically evident in Syria.

Should we wash our hands of the Middle East and turn our backs on it as we become less dependent on it for our energy supplies?

No, Burns said. The region “has a nasty way of reminding us of its relevance.” Much of the global economy still depends on its large reserves of oil. Extremism, once released from there, cannot be forced back into the bottle. Syria has chemical weapons, and Iran threatens to produce nuclear ones. Three major religions of the world worship at its sacred places.

Burns says we are far better off “working persistently to help shape events, rather than wait for them to be shaped for us.”

What can ordinary Americans do? Connect with the reconcilers. Dr. Lloyd Johnson, a Christian, has established dialogs with several individuals and groups in Israel/Palestine. Other groups, religious and secular, seek reconciliation between the different parties.

Develop respect and empathy for the diverse Middle East peoples, even those with whom you don’t agree. They are mothers, fathers, sons, daughters. They have fears and dreams. Some spew hatred, but others, in all the ethnic groups, work courageously for reconciliation. Connect with them.

 

Planning a Trip to the United States? What Governments Advise Their Citizens When Traveling to the U.S.

 

The U.S. government web site travel.state.gov issues warnings and advisories for U.S. citizens for countries all over the world. Information about riots, terrorism, natural disasters, coups, and generally nasty conditions in foreign countries that might impact American citizens are sent out for all to read.

What about travel advisories from other countries for their citizens who plan temporary stays in the United States?

What announcements from foreign governments might the recent Boston Marathon bombings cause, for example? I found this official advice from the United Kingdom for British citizens traveling in the U.S.:

There is a general threat from terrorism. Attacks could be indiscriminate, including in places frequented by foreigners. You should monitor media reports and remain vigilant at all times.

On 15 April 2013 two explosions took place close to the finishing line of the Boston marathon, killing 3 people and injuring over 200.”

I continued to mull over the way other countries might see the U.S. How would Japanese parents, for example, feel about sending their children to study in an American university following mass shootings on a college campus?

How about images of U.S. citizens toting guns at a city council meeting or walking down the street so armed (with proper gun permit, of course)? Might that affect foreign tourists’ desire to visit here?

We sometimes are unaware of how much money foreign tourists and students spend in this country. International visitors to the U.S. spent 14.4 billion dollars in March, 2013, according to numbers issued by the U.S. Department of Commerce. The student tuition from international students alone is a boon to colleges and universities facing domestic cutbacks.

After all, foreigners do have choices. They can vacation and study in, say, Canada, Australia, or the United Kingdom. These countries are democracies with attractions, upscale tourist facilities, and good schools, plus less of a reputation for violence.

Frightened By Knowledge

 

The people who killed the young U.S. diplomat, Anne Smedinghoff, in Afghanistan in April, are afraid of knowledge. Smedinghoff, a public diplomacy officer with the U.S. embassy in Kabul, was killed by a terrorist bomb. She and her colleagues were delivering books to a school in the war torn country.

Let’s be honest. Knowledge can change us. We take a risk when we choose to learn and explore new ideas.

However, such exploration also can give us more appreciation for solid beliefs taught us by our parents and communities. Certainly, my sojourn in a country with beliefs quite different from those I had grown up with gave me a better understanding of its culture.  I can never see its people as mere stereotypes. I am aware, too, of the common humanity that we share. At the same time, my own faith was strengthened. Seeing other belief systems caused me to think more deeply about my own, to test it, and to grow in it.

New knowledge can be challenging, but without it, we stagnate. True faith sends us out in confidence. We may incorporate new beliefs. We may reject them. We may modify our ideas. But only a timid faith refuses the opportunity to grow.

State Department Honors Its Own, Killed While Serving in a Year of Tragic Losses

 

The C Street entrance to the U.S. State Department is the one with the flags—the flags of those nations with whom the United States has diplomatic relations. It’s the place you see on television when news reporters cover stories about U.S. diplomatic response to foreign crises and conflicts, usually with the flags in the background.

What is not usually shown are the rows of names engraved on the walls of the C Street lobby. These are the names of U.S. State Department personnel who have died in the line of duty: 236 since 1780.  Each year on Foreign Service Day, the names of those recently recognized for giving their lives in service to their country are added to the rows. This year has been a year of especially tragic loss. Eight names will be added on May 3.

Four were killed in the terrorist attack on the American mission in Benghazi, Libya. Another was a young woman killed by an explosion in Afghanistan while she was traveling to visit a school and deliver books.

The majority of the State Department’s Foreign Service personnel will not be attending. They will be serving their country as usual in places far removed from the C Street lobby: London, U.K; Moscow, Russia; conflict-ridden Kabul in Afghanistan and Baghdad in Iraq; Sana’a, Yemen; Islamabad, Pakistan; Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia; Dhahran, Saudi Arabia; genocide-haunted Kigali, Rwanda; and 200 plus other U.S. missions around the world.

Syrian Quagmire

 

Has the Syrian government under Bashar al-Assad used chemical weapons? We study the evidence while experts tell us, no matter the use or not, that the Syrian problem has no good solutions.

Terrible crimes against even children cry out to us, but we fear a Vietnam/Iraq outcome. On the other hand, if we don’t help at all or only minimally, we fear that Syria will become an al-Qaeda bastion with chemical weapons.

Recent history is not optimistic. Iraq and Afghanistan, despite the blood and treasure we spent in those countries, are not our bosom buddies. Egypt, Tunisia, and Libya overthrew despotic, corrupt regimes but are at risk of replacing them with narrow Islamist ones.

Secular regimes have a bad reputation in the Middle East because most of them were/are despotic and corrupt. Islamist regimes may yield to the same temptations (witness Egypt), but when given a chance to vote in free elections, citizens seem willing to give them a try in a backlash against the secular ones.

We supported some of those secular regimes. Our decisions in helping Syrians begins with the sober assessment that our influence is limited by our past actions. Some reaping of what we have sown is inevitable.

Perhaps the best we can hope for is an Islamist regime that recognizes basic human rights. We can certainly increase our aid to the daily increasing number of refugees in Turkey and Jordan. From now on, better that we base foreign policy decisions on the common good rather than narrow, selfish goals that come back to haunt us.