An Evening in Dhaka (Sort of)

On Wednesday I went to the independence celebration at the Bangladesh Embassy.

What an odd experience.

Don’t get me wrong, it was great fun – interesting to be inside an embassy, delicious food, beautiful saris to stare at, me mourning the fact that I would look ridiculous wearing one – but an odd social milieu to be moving in. (Not to mention that the invitation was addressed to my boyfriend – we were invited because he has worked a bit with the Bangladesh embassy on trade preferences—and Mrs.. Right off the bat, sort of pretending to be someone I’m not.)

So anyway, where am I going? Oh yes. I found the people there strikingly unpretentious, a little nerdy, and surprisingly low-key. Behold the wonder of the small nation! I am embarrassingly ignorant of Bangladeshi history ( I had do web research to find out when the country won independence, and from whom – 1971, after a war with Pakistan actually), so I had very little context before going. Perhaps because of my ignorance, but perhaps not, I found the atmosphere refreshing. There was no bombast, no speeches about how great and powerful Bangladesh is. We all stood around eating mutton biryani and trying to figure out each others’ connections to Bangladesh.

What did I take from all of this? Well, because I work on Capitol Hill and am consumed by the condition of this nation, it reminded me just what a tough spot the U.S. is in. While it’s great to be a world power with economic supremacy and a permanent voice in U.N. security council, we also have immense responsibility. Our embassy in Dhaka could never throw such a low key July 4^th affair. Is this constant scrutiny and responsibility the source of our eroding ability to deal with the nation’s and world’s problems in an effective manner? Are we simply tired out? Do we need a rest? A Caribbean vacation?

I don’t know how to get over the feeling that the U.S. is a lumbering, tired, giant – one that is in great need of a rest that will never come. How can we get our energy back? Our youth back? Our moral, creativity, and liberalism back? Any ideas?

While you all mull that over I’m going back to my mutton.