It was one year ago today that I left for Moscow. I'm glad I went but truthfully I don't have any desire to go back. Don't get me wrong. The half-day I spent inside the Kremlin was certainly memorable and walking through Red Square was unforgettable. But what a difference a year makes.
A year ago I was employed in the business world. Now I'm in higher education. All things considered I'd say that's been a plus. The salary level is considerably less but I'm collecting both a severance and a pension from my former employer. The severance will end in a few months but that's OK. I'm not sure my former company won't be having some sort of ending themselves in a few months anyway. And there's no comparison in working conditions. The current job is dramatically better. I'm basically my own boss now and the stress level has dropped to about a one on a ten scale where before it was a nine.
And as I hit the anniversary of my Russian visit my Russian friends or at least their government have been in the news of late. I'm politically naive about that situation but it kind of looks like Georgia may have brought that invasion on themselves. Whatever the real situation was or is, it reminds me that I would like to see our government, both the executive and legislative branch, show some kind of coherent foreign and domestic policy. Perhaps they could even do the unimaginable--work together. Or for our legislators, working at all, since I believe they're still on vacation--no doubt deserved since they've addressed all the urgent issues like energy, the monetary crisis, etc. I guess the mainstream media just hasn't revealed all their good work to us yet.
In that vein last night I stumbled upon this Bill Moyers Journal interview with Boston University professor (hey, wasn't I just there a couple of years ago?) and retired career military man Andrew Bacevich. This guy made more sense in an hour to me that any of our politicians have in the last fifteen years. Basically he believes we have to put our own house in order rather than externalize our problems, including economic ones. I'm going to read his latest book. I not only liked what he had to say but the way he said it was non-partisan. And he has walked his talk. He's a West Point graduate, served in Vietnam and the Persian Gulf and sadly, has lost a son in the Iraq War.
But back to the USSR. Recently somewhere on the web I saw that Ronald Reagan election commercial from the eighties again that shows the bear stalking in the woods ("There is a bear in the woods. For some people the bear is easy to see. Others don't see it at all"). Of course the bear is Russia. It reminded me of how many years we used to fear Russia and all that it stood for. That was basically the way it was for all my life until the early nineties.
So it's somewhat surreal for me today, a child of the fifties, to think how I stood inside the Kremlin and walked where many of the famous Russian leaders walked. It was truly unforgettable. Honestly I'm very grateful for having done that.
But I still can see the bear.
August 20, 2008 in
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My first wife was a product of the Soviet Union, and through her I met many of the early Russian dissidents who had emigrated to New York in the 70's and 80's. Let's just say that I lost my rose-colored glasses (bad pun, I know) very quickly vis-a-vis the Wonders of Communism.
Lately a wonderful song by, of all people, the Clash has been running through my head:
He tried his tricks
That Russki bear
The United Nations
says it's all fair!
Ain't that the truth.
Posted by: Pete (Alois) at Aug 20, 2008 8:34:31 PM
My former colleague at Boston University is brilliant because he cuts through the bullshit and speaks simple truths that have been hidden beneath layers of political and religious rhetoric. I think most people have, at some level, the same understanding of our country as Bacevich: our consumerism drives our foreign policy, our investment in issues and places outside of the country has bankrupted our homeland, the United States is imperialistic for the sake of wealth, etc. The problem is that we do not hear it except in our own heads, and we do not hear it so clearly and truthfully articulated as we do from Bacevich. His is a breath of fresh air, and one that will be universally ignored by the politicians of the ponzi scheme.
Posted by: Greg Salyer at Aug 20, 2008 11:27:47 PM
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