Ugly

Well, I have had a good week. Nothing ugly about it. No complaints. But there have been two things that have happened that are forcing this entry. 1) McGuire's just informed me that the stout is only $1 tonight (and I'm nowhere near Pensacola) leaving me rather grumpy and 2) I just finished another book, and as Stephen King taught me "read a lot, write a lot". So, I'm turning up Queen and writing.

Keeping my tradition of not wasting my time on books that have not offended anyone, I chose to read a book that was stamped with that statement "If this were not a free country, this book would be banned". Yeah, had to read it when I saw that.

So I read "The Ugly American" by William Lederer ad Eugene Burdick. It was a challenge to dive into a work that had a reputation that promised to challenge me. But I have come to love such stretching and just dove in. As usual, there was a lot to reap.

I've come to learn in the last several years that the arts, especially books, offer a multi-tier message that cover intended and unintended topics. The authors intended to address the problems within the united States Foreign Service during the Eisenhower Administration and Americans abroad in general and I was forced to deal with that. But the topic also covered the state of the modern Church in America.

Regardless of which way you look at it, the whole idea boils down to the choice of mutually beneficial actions or self-serving actions, symbiosis or parasitism, altruism or arrogance. It comes down to on question, in policy and in practice, "do we really care about people or are we just here to use them?"

I understand the frustrations of Gilbert MacWhite, "The Ragtime Kid" and "Tex" Wolcheck as they attempted to try to make a difference in southeast Asia by actually understanding the people, the culture, the way of life of the native people. These men, and others, understood that capitalism was the best opportunity for the people of Asia but that it was not going to look like American capitalism. They understood that the people didn't need the flash, glitz and the price tags that the u.S. government put on its foreign policy. They needed a better chance to earn a living and they weren't looking for handouts. They were looking for opportunity to do it themselves. I understand these frustrations because I have confronted evangelical leaders and begged them to care about people and have been labeled as a heretic for my efforts.

MacWhite sent off one final letter to Washington to seek the resources, the manpower, the permission to do the things that needed to be done to really empower the fictional nation of Sarkhan - only to be disappointed by politicians that were unaware that the box had an outside and who could never hope to think there and who were too self-serving to care about the people of rural Sarkhan.

"The Ragtime Kid" had his ultimate opportunity squashed by a staff member that couldn't see past his own Americanism to understand the culture of Sarkhan and the fact that one man was about to eliminate the influence of Red China over an entire nation.

Wolcheck found himself drunk and and unimpressed at the rebuke of a powerful senator, threatening him with bodily harm if he did not "have a drink with us and keep your mouth shut" or leave.

The consensus among the powers that be were that the new, innovative and, more importantly, benevolent ideas wouldn't work, weren't feasible and "wouldn't do enough". But the problem is that when it comes to helping people, bigger is not always better, handouts are not always better and people aren't looking to be just like us.

So, if an American can help a Cambodian farmer get his chickens to lay more eggs or help his fellow man find answers to the spiritual questions he is seeking, it doesn't matter if the farmer remains Cambodian or the seeker is never "presentable" in most churches. The question is "was a need met?" This might require someone learning to speak Khmer or to learn to not speak "Churchese" but if the best outcome is truly desired, the effort will not be difficult.

But if we are stuck in a box, I think I'll go fishing...or better yet, just play with my kids.

This post might be a little ambiguous for those who have never read the book....maybe ambiguous enough to fix that problem. Give it a try.