1: New Videos! Some videos from Uzbekistan have been posted in the photo gallery! They are in the section, “Videos,” in the category, “Peace Corps Uzbekistan.” Enjoy and please contact me if you have any difficulty viewing them.

2: I have just returned from the movie “Flightplan,” staring Jodie Foster. Although most of the movies that come through town here are the standard Hollywood crap, this one was in fact quite brilliant. However, my friend with whom I saw the movie thought that the bit with the Arab passengers was un-necessary. Basically, Foster’s character accused, without any evidence, two Arab passengers on the plane of having kidnapped her daughter. Why, she asked, do films have to constantly touch upon this subject. Surely, she thought, such representations would only inflame existing tensions. But with this I disagreed entirely. The fact that this happened in the film made it all the more believable. Like it or not, these prejudices exist (and are not totally without basis,) and to deny their existence would be disingenuous. Now this is not an accusation of my friend here, but I honestly think her reaction signifies something larger.

The fact is that the whole world is facing this tremendous problem and we, Americans, the people who have historically been problem solvers, are at a loss. Whether we have no plan or the wrong plan is of little consequence if in the end, we remain no closer to our goal than when we started. I have been reading up on Uzbekistan now that I have internet in my apartment, and it is truly terrifying the extent to which global politics and the battle over terrorism reach. So we can not just put our heads in the sand, and we can’t be complacent with the lame belief that the journalists are re-growing their spine; once it’s gone it won’t come back – (oh but maybe it could but Jesus says no you foolish whitecoats!) The fact that in the movie “Flightplan,” an American citizen reacted with undue negativity to an Arab on an airplane is completely believable. Now in the case of the film, all ended well, and apologies, perhaps in not so many words, were exchanged. And although this was but a small element of a truly interesting plot, it acknowledged the tension with which we currently live.

Here in Romania, people are blatantly racist, and engage in about any “-ism” you can imagine. As “the American,” I am supposed to act as a counterexample to such behavior. It is something I try to do, but one which I find more and more difficult by the day. There is no doubt in my mind that as a Nation, we have been committing some unbearable atrocities in these past weeks, months and years. And no, although when I hear JFK’s words I sometimes want to cry, I’m not so naive to believe that our past has been all cupcakes and apple pie. This world is not a kind place and sometimes one must be tough. I believe that good leaders make decisions in times of need and must have the courage to be bold amidst the opposition of those to scared to make any decision at all. However, such decisions must be for concrete, achievable and noble ends. If I were to proclaim that I would kill every Romanian who talks to me and I don’t understand, I would certainly be without a single friend here, likely without any support in my crusade, and probably dead myself. If my policy is so brash that it will lead to my own annihilation before I can even hope to see my desired result, then surely it is just suicide along with taking others down with me – or – err – terrorism.

So how can I say, with any credibility, that America is good, and terrorism and terrorists are evil? Must terrorism involve bombs and airplanes, or does it manifest itself in more sinister, easily forgiven ways? How can I say that Americans are justly global leaders when the news is of ordinary people beaning each other at Wal*Marts over toys imported from China? We have, sadly, become a nation of fools, led by a man who is no less criminal than those who ought, indeed, to be brought to justice. Unfortunately, unlike in “Flightplan,” its not always the case that the plane lands safely, the good guys escape, and the bad guys are blown to pieces. The way we have it now, everybody dies. It is a odd zero sum game whereby everyone looses – a synnecrosis of the most tragic sort.

How tragic, then, my American History class will soon become! The voices for right, laden with an unmistakable urgency, must be heard. But sometimes I wonder, deeply, how it is that the majority of us, well at least 50.7% supposedly, chose not to hear them. We must now, or soon, perhaps, we won’t even have the choice.