-^-for posterity-^-

i’ve been running in circles. i sit now and reflect on of my recent experiences that i really didn’t speak to properly.

we went to the american consulate in hcmc last weekend. it is situated on one of the higher floors of a sheik, glass building. we boarded an elevator and, when the doors slid open again, we were greeted with a large, glass wall bearing the seal of my country. the seal is familiar and my eyes always fix on one point: the thirteen arrows in the left claw of the eagle. thirteen arrows. i don’t really ever notice what’s in the other claw. i assume it has something to do with peace. i think the emblem should be modified and arrows should be placed in both claws.

security was an incredible mess. about four vietnamese security guards sat behind a desk directly in front of the glass seal. they wore uniforms with american flags on their shoulders. one at a time we were asked to step through a very sensitive metal detector. i was one of the first through it and i set it off. since i didn’t have any keys, coins or large metal weapons on me i was a bit put off. it turns out my belt was the culprit. i took the belt off and walked through quickly. they searched the belt incase i was hiding anything dangerous in it.

we were seated in a large room surrounded with new periodicals and a carpeted floor. it didn’t feel like i was in saigon anymore. the magazines were from all over: forbes, the nation, newsweek, time, the journal of democracy, money, and so on. i took my sandals off and enjoyed the carpet. there’s nothing nicer than carpet. it makes your feet feel light and pampered.

four people entered the room and sat down. they were diplomats and all had smiles that could have won prizes. their personalities were very professional but oddly casual. they tried to joke and make light of things while at the same time trying to discuss very important global events. they tried to make us all feel good while still getting across their idea. they were smooth talkers. they were bright and well educated. they talked of fourth of july parties while they were talking about sensitive current events. hotdogs and politics.

one lady began to chat very tactfully about democracy and transparency and change. she was very negative and didn’t have one good thing to say about the place. she talked about “freedom”. (whatever that word means. you can’t throw a word like that around. if you’ve ever been to a place where people are wired quite differently from you you’ll realize that a word like “freedom” isn’t universal. “freedom” means one thing in crawford texas and another thing in any other part of the world. the word “freedom” is treated a lot like the word “love”. “love” means so many different things to so many different people in so many different situations that the word itself looses most of its meaning.) she made many references to the “opening of markets” and the “exposure to foreign trade and investment” and anything other piece of rhetoric she could muster up. all of this was spiced up by her whimsical planning for a large fourth of july party. hotdogs and politics.

i became quite frustrated with her description. she was painting a terrible picture that wasn’t true. some people said things that put her off a bit. i think she was expecting a group of eager, red-blooded americans to come storming through the door and to sit back and nod at her analysis of the place and laugh at her fourth of july planning problems. “oh, and we all come in suits and it’s quite formal. we do have a good time though!”

*open mouth broadly, toss head back a bit, breath deeply and force yourself to laugh.

she didn’t have such a group. this group really understood a lot about vietnam. dan had lived over here for a good number of years. he was one of the first people to be granted a visa after normalization in the early nineties. he talked about how, at first, he couldn’t get any official news from outside sources. the united nations would hand deliver a sealed package to his house. that was twelve years ago. earlier in that day i bought the economist on the street corner. it was being sold with the nytimes, the new herald tribune, usa today and any other assortment of news print. times have changed radically.

we then talked a bit about trade. i noted that this country was quite an interesting example. it’s developing rapidly and really emerging onto the global market. if you drive from saigon to my home in the mekong you can’t help but notice the large bridges being constructed. factories are being built all over. this place is really booming. i brought up the fact that this country also was doing everything that the world trade organization, the international monetary fund and the world bank said not to do. how could a country be a smashing success when going against the three institutions that were responcible for international development? surely something was awry. she mentioned that she had worked for the imf previously and that it wasn’t a bad institution. reassuring.

the rest of the meeting was a bit awkward. we had other observations and they had counterpoints and people shuffled their feet and i took a bit of a break to feel the carpet again under my feet. it was soft and lush and i think i was enjoying it when another fourth of july party joke was cracked. i didn’t hear it but put on a wonderfully fake smile.

we left and handed back our clearance passes. the lady that had such a negative perspective on this country will walk out of her plush high-rise office building, hop in a car and drive home. i’m sure she doesn’t live in the slums. i headed out of the building and the next day we returned to my lovely home in the middle of a city of 300,000 people and only three foreigners. i smiled sincerely and continued to try to understand this culture and this people.