We are an incredible people.
It doesn't take one very long, once you're outside the country, to realize that Americans are different (unfortunately not always for the better, but . . .). It's hard to describe and it isn't very apparent when you're running around the United States, but once you're overseas, our differences become very apparent. I don't quite buy the "exceptionalism" view of Americans, because it's not a superiority thing, but we are a different people, an incredible people, and the rest of the world sees that (though often does not want to admit it).When I was in Zimbabwe I had the fortune of riding with a local USAID driver from Harare to the Zimbabwe/South Africa/Mozambique border area to meet up with a delegation of government leaders. I got to see the country from the ground, the only way to really see a country, and from a perspective I suspect few white people have had the privilege to experience. At one point I was standing in a beer garden with about 300 people drinking Chibuku from a plastic bucket, with people thanking me for hanging out with them; I was the only white guy there. Earlier that day we drove into a suburban community to find Washington's (the driver) brother. Kids followed us, yelling something in Shona. Washington said, "Dan, what do you think they're saying?" "Hey! What's that white guy doing here?" Washington laughed and said, "You're right." That night we ate at his brother's house. His name was George. It was no accident that his father named his two sons George and Washington. It was then that I truly came to understand that we, our historical figures and our country stand for principles that many in the world only dream about.
My colleague David is a bit of the historian. We've been working with a student team that won a competition and is soon headed to Washington DC to compete against students from other countries. One of the things we're going to do is to talk with them about the US and what it's all about. We've got Arabic translations of the Declaration of Independence and other key historical documents that describe who we aspire to be as a nation. I've yet to meet an Iraqi who was not fundamentally changed by a trip to the United States. Only by coming here can they (and so many others) truly understand what we mean when we talk about democracy, freedom and liberty. We hope to give the students a sense of what they'll experience when they go to our nation's capital, so that when they are there they will understand that that is what we hope for them, and so that they can bring that experience home to share with others.
We don't have a very long history, but oh what a history we have. My recent conversations with David, in preparation for working with the students, has reminded me of just how incredible we are as a people and a nation. We are a people who live our history and, although we often fall short, we aspire to such tremendous principles. That we have built a democracy that has withstood our human failings. That in the end, we always return to those guiding principles. Like I said, it's easy to forget that when you're at home all the time, surrounded by the 24-hour news cycle that tries to make everything sound like a disaster. As a country, as a people, as individuals, we are not a disaster.
On the ride home today I was chatting with our drivers, one Bolivian, one from the Ivory Coast. When the guy from the Ivory Coast heard I was from Oregon, he went on and on about the Oregonian at the US Embassy in the Ivory Coast who changed his life. "You cannot believe how great a man he is." The gentleman named his son Mark after the guy.
Time and time again I hear similar stories; not just about our historic figures, but also about normal Americans. We are an industrious and generous people, across our political spectrum and despite ourselves. I am humbled and reminded that I am shaped by and fully believe in the principles that made the United States of America. It is those principles, and how we live them, that make us an incredible people.