The Institute for Democratic Strategies celebrates its 15th anniversary today and I reached 60 years of age. It's rather remarkable keeping a small outfit like IDS alive for fifteen years. I would like to thank Joe and Peg, the original pioneers on this voyage and the countless human rights activists who gave so much of their time and advice to me truly pro bono. I have probably learned more about what I was supposed to know the previous twenty years during the time IDS has been in existence.
IDS has given me the opportunity to focus on causes and issues that personally interest and concern me. That is enormously satisfying from a personal point of view. And, in some ways, IDS has provided a return to the bizarre travels of my younger professional years. There are still aspects of other cultures I would prefer not to know, although these oddities have been thrust on me, giving way to pressures to put them in a book. Unfortunately, Ripley's Believe It or Not has become passe.
IDS has benefited from the valuable insights and contributions of people who donated their valuable time and talent to participate in our programs. This is an aspect of the non-profit world that appears to be threatened.
They say 60 is the new 40 but with a twist--you are no longer employable. But I can insist now on being called by the Swahili honorific "Mzee" Mzee McColm. My wife's birthday card noted that she found it amazing that she has known me since I was 21. I found that amazing and remarkable also. I guess we are just the real defenders of traditional family values.
This past summer I had the pleasure of meeting up with old friends, who I hadn't seen for years. One I'm drafting as my psychiatrist and the other my architect. You never know where you can get good help these days and maybe the answer is right in front of your face or your neighbor next door. I even have access to an armed capability--perhaps for my future raid on Roger Ailes fortified complex.
After 35 years of being fixated on political transformations abroad, (maybe even hastening some of them), I am now drawn back to my native land and the challenges it faces. All my life, America has been at the pinnacle of its power, dominating the language of democracy, human rights and development. For all its flaws (and they are numerous) I still believe this country can remain a force for good. But it has to be good at home too, recognizing there really is such a thing as the common good and the general welfare. How we behave to each other also determines how outsiders will view us.
What's next? Probably forming a tent city with all fired teachers to keep civilization alive in pockets throughout our country. This would truly be the appropriate counter-culture.
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