The Ugly American

I finished the "Ugly American" today. What a great book! It might be fifty years old, but the lessons it holds are still just a true. It's wonderfully written and very hard to put down. The title is a bit of a double "entendre". It first points to the physically handsome, yet ugly in their manner or life Americans living the high life abroad. It also points to one of many protagonists in the book, an ugly american engineer who helps on a very small level, working with the people in the fictional country of Sarkhan, and as such makes a huge impact. (Not to mention his wife.) It's a must read.

One of the things that impacted me about the book, was the ease and rapidity of making changes once the people "ate the food, spoke the language, and walked around in the fields." I don't see that level of cultural, not to mention language learning, happening quiet that fast. Also I really don't see that level of influence play out that quickly or efficiently either. But the authors had their points to make.

None the less, it makes me start to think about all that "intentionality" business, and examine it in the light of God's intentionality. Position is crucial, critical and above-all-else important, but I think I'm learning that position alone is not enough.

On another note, I'm wondering what Naruto's new technique will be....

The day after

Today, the most common overheard or direct comments about Obama were:

1. His election was predicted in Bible. "You mean Nostradamus?" "Yeah, same thing." oy vey.
2. He's from Kenya, or Haiti, or at least has family in Haiti.
3. Venezuela/US relations are going to really improve. And of course that will affect oil (not sure how though.)

In other news, I think I'm really starting to like photography. I'm a total amateur and I've fallen for the trap of thinking black and white is the most "artistic". Still, here a few I took with the little cheapo Nikon I have. These come from a park here in Caracas, and a monastery near Caracas where we do our spiritual retreats.