Sheki, Azerbaijan  This trip was a study in contrasts, the glamour, and luxury of the capital Baku and its Caspian Sea oil deposits and the third world poverty of its rural countryside and medieval agriculture. I was there to improve the latter, but what I found was surprising. In the end, it's not about oil or vegetables, it's about the human spirit. I took this photo of a 5th generation farmer and his 7th generation grandson after his wife had served us a modest lunch of homegrown vegetables and pork, the meat sliced razor-thin to stretch their budget after entertaining western visitors. I've never had a better meal, before or since.   Forget Baku and their moguls, the real Azeri's live on the farms, that's where I discovered how wonderful life can be, fewer conveniences and more love. This man was the perfect host, he offered us what he had, no shyness, no apologies just knowing that what he had would be more than enough. My life in the developing world changed m

  The Russians invented it, we're playing it. Do you remember Christopher Walken in Deer Hunter, the epic film about the absurdity of the Viet Nam War? That classic scene when Walken was forced to play Russian roulette for the entertainment of his captors had me flinching in my seat as he pulled the trigger. When your life depends on chance, in Walken's case, 6 cylinders in a pistol chamber, one loaded, five empty. The chamber is spun around like a casino wheel, you aim the pistol at your temple and pull the trigger.  You're playing the ultimate game of chance, if you win you live, if you lose you die. The odds are 6 to 1, not bad in Vegas, but are you willing to bet your life or your good health on it? Remember, in a game of chance, the odds favor the house. Why am I going on like this? It's simple, I have family and friends who are rationalizing their protection against COVID, they're thinking that with such a small fraction of the community getting sick that I

How often do we learn something awful, clam up, and ignore it, hoping it will go away.  It never does, it just gets worse and our silence becomes its enabler.  Life is like that, we don't want to get involved. We have enough to worry about and ignorance, after all, is bliss. Wrong, ignorance is acceptance. The easy analogy is governance. We sit in a management meeting or a board of directors where we become aware of something nefarious and keep silent for fear of being disloyal.  To speak up takes courage and courage has consequences. When a whistleblower comes forward they are vilified, they become the victim of power and power corrupts. We've seen this in Washington for years, management teams being selected for their weakness rather than their strength. Weakness breeds indecision and silence, strength breeds courage. A new administration always starts with a ray of hope that the management team, aka the cabinet, will be outspoken and advise and consent with courage, not sile

A drone is often preferred for missions that are too “dull, dirty, or dangerous” for manned aircraft.” There are more slaves in the world today than at any other time in human history, an estimated 27 million in bondage across the globe. Men, women, and children being exploited for manual and sexual labor against their will. PROLOGUE Her name was Casita. She was eighteen, looked fourteen, and thought like twenty-two. One of nine children from El Chorillo, a poverty-stricken barrio on the outskirts of Panama City. Her brother, Javier, had been snatched from the streets six months earlier. He was nine years old and beautiful. Casita completed high school at the top of her class, spoke fluent English and Spanish with an advanced degree from the streets of El Chorillo. There she was known as  jefe Mujer, (boss woman). In the developed world she would be a CEO, respected by her peers, and feared by her competitors. Interpol, the world’s largest international police organization, was recruit

MEMORIES~1963 A dragon lives forever but not so little boys Painted wings and giant rings make way for other toys One grey night it happened, Jackie Paper came no more And puff that mighty dragon, he ceased his fearless roar In the 60's we all assumed Puff The Magic Dragon was a folk song about smoking pot. The truth is that the writers, Leonard Lipton and Peter Yarrow, will tell you it's a fantasy based on a poem about fading into old age. If you were alive in the early '60s, as I was, you may look back on Puff with nostalgia and a different take on life. Puff was the imaginary friend, a Dragon, of a little boy named Jackie Paper. The lyrics explain that Jackie's life was temporary and that Puff lost his roar when Jackie was gone. I tell my children and their spouses that they better live in the present and enjoy their children every waking moment, they'll be gone in the blink of an eye. Play with them, read to them, take them places, make them laugh, hug them when

                            FRANKLIN D ROOSEVELT We're frightened because of COVID and the economy, fair enough, but consider history. The Great Depression and the 2nd World War didn't cause more death than the pandemic, they caused more fear. The difference is, in the 1930s and '40s we had a leader that told us in a calm, reassuring voice that "we had nothing to fear but fear itself. " Fear is a crippling emotion, it causes indecision and panic during times of peril when what we need is leadership that reassures us. Remember when your kids woke up in the middle of the night with nightmares, they were scared to death. What did you do, you held them in your arms and whispered calmly that it was alright, they were safe and had nothing to fear. FDR was the nation's parent he knew that we needed reassurance that we needed that calm, strong voice leading us through a crisis. I honestly believe Joe Biden is that voice and that with his folksy, experienced demeanor a

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way--in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only." Charles Dickens Paris in the 18th Century was in turmoil, it was the reign of terror, the French revolution was raging the atmosphere was chaotic. Washington, DC in the 21st Century is in turmoil, the pandemic is raging and the atmosphere is chaotic. Is this an analogy?  Maybe, but we need to fill in a few gaps.  Paris in 1789 was suffering from unemployment, hunger, and p

  I spent 13 months in Armenia, living and working in the capital, Yerevan, the economic, cultural, and political heartbeat of the country. Living there as an American ex-pat and absorbing the history of the people I realized that Armenia was more than the Kardasians, much more. There's a cadre of brilliant Armenians who've changed the world in big and small ways. Khachatur Abovyan-author & intellectual Daron Acemoğlu-economist Hovannes Adamian-pioneer color-tv Cardinal Grigor Petros XV Agagianian-candidate for Pope Ara Parseghian-Notre Dame football coach. And countless others,  but I digress. I was there as an Economic Development Consultant, working on a USAID project rubbing shoulders with the locals and learning, learning, learning. If nothing else, Armenians are emotionally proud of their heritage, their language, their history, and their refusal to roll-over for their enemies.  In a year's time, I had many experiences including symphonies, ballets, museums, and t

 It's an awful feeling, being alone. Your thoughts ping back and forth, like a mental game of bumper pool. Staying productive? Staying on schedule? Sticking to my routine? How much social media? How about the cellphone?  Texting, emailing, zooming, surfing? How about writing & recording? How about walking, driving, meditating? How about age, I'm in the COVID death zone.  This is how it began, the signs were ubiquitous.  " FREE COVID-19 TESTING, HAMMONASSET STATE PARK, 8AM TO 4PM, SUNDAY THRU SATURDAY." I said to Julie, "we should do that, why not, it shouldn't hurt and we'll be supporting the Governor's initiative to improve the state's database, that's good for everyone." I decided to do a trial run and check the wait time before Julie took a test. It's a Saturday, the line is long, I wait almost an hour before entering the testing tent. I complete a simple form, name, address, phone, email, age, gender, and a few health question

Montenegro is a hidden gem, a tiny Balkan country on the Adriatic Sea, bordered by Croatia, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Kosovo, and Albania. I was stationed in her capital, Podgorica, a charming city of red roofs, fabulous food, charming cafes, and extraordinarily attractive people, tall and beautiful, both men and women. The Adriatic is a sailors paradise, with calm blue water, and a rugged coastline dotted with inhabited islands, especially off the coast of Dubrovnik, Croatia. I was working with the timber industry, we were repositioning nationalized sawmills for resale to the private sector.  I worked and socialized with a mix of Montenegrins, Russians, Croatians, and Serbians, now that was an experience, When they sat in a local cafe they ordered Vodka by the bottle, shot glasses all around, and water on the side, that was for the pussies.  These guys spoke broken English with accents so strong I needed interpretation. They loved to tell stories about life under the strongman, Josip

 I didn't take this photo, but I could have! Kazaks living outside of Almaty and Astana, their two largest cities, often live on the steppe, that vast wasteland, and trade route between Europe and Asia. Here, life is hard, but life is real. The people respect each other and support each other, there are no fences. On the steppe, there are no police, no courts, no lawyers. These people take care of their own, both good and bad. Disputes are settled on the spot.  Once I was visiting a cotton farmer on the steppe, I asked him about lawlessness on this vast land far from the authority of cities? His toothless grin preceded a story about a horse-thief. On the steppe animals range free, the horses, sheep, goats, yaks, and camels wander miles from the farm but always find their way back to water and feed. There are no branding irons, farmers know their stock, even when there are hundreds or thousands of them. When a thief is caught there is negotiation, usually an exchange of another anim

She was probably in her early fifties but looked twenty years older as she shuffled around the room bent over at a ninety-degree angle and muttering to herself in Urdu. I was in the Marriott Lahore, arguably the best hotel in Pakistan. My sponsor, USAID, provided a modest per diem for consultants, barely enough to cover necessities. As usual, I upgraded at my own expense for security, comfort, and convenience. Pakistan, like most Muslim countries, is misunderstood in the developed world. I was there doing economic development work under a foreign aid grant. Part of a team of American ex-pats working for a small consulting group retained by USAID to implement an agribusiness competitiveness project. The COP, Chief of Party, had a PhD in economics from Harvard and was a brilliant, if not reckless, project manager.   At first, I didn’t feel it, that strange sensation that comes over you when first entering a new country. I knew Pakistan was Muslim, I was well briefed on its history going

It's said, written, felt, shouted, and whispered millions of times a day in every language on earth but how many of us have any idea what we're talking about? "Love is when you choose to be at your best when the other person is not at their best." Wintley Phipps Think about that, and how hard it is to put into practice. Love is not an emotion, that's easy, love is doing, that's hard. Today's blog came to mind yesterday when attending a memorial service for someone who was important to me during a challenging period of my life. The Phipps definition of Love was the perfect metaphor, my friend had always been at her best when I was not and that made all the difference in our friendship. During this pandemic it's important to be at our best, it's important to understand that friends, family, and colleagues may not be at theirs.  Your best means patience, understanding, and support. It means being there when others aren't. We're not out of the

 My body traveled, my soul took me there. It's difficult to separate body and soul but C.S. Lewis does a pretty good job of it. What we think, what we decide, what we feel, that's soul;  what we do is body. My travels to exotic places didn't change my body, but my soul reinvented itself over and over changing who I was and how I perceived the world.  I've read about places and cultures but never understood them until I went there, lived with the people, and experienced their dreams and fears, so different from my own. Travel softens the edges of your humanity, you become more empathetic as you realize there is more than one way to live. It's not always your way or the highway it's your way and their way, parallel universes spinning in the same direction by differing means. I'm often asked what was my favorite country during my travels, that's the wrong question. The question should be why did I drop a life of comfort and convenience for one of adventure

  My journey continues.  The visit to Portugal was a side trip, a detour,  between Thailand and Malaysia that turned into a deep dive into the subconscious. On the flight from NY, I read Pascal Mercier's wonderful novel about life, love, and the search for reality.  I was mesmerized by the philosophical insight expressed by the deceased co-protagonist,  Dr. Almeida Prado. "When I read a newspaper, listen to the radio or overhear what people are saying in the cafe, I often feel aversion, even disgust at the same words written and spoken over and over-at the same expressions, phrases, and metaphors repeated." Pascal Mercier This book, The Night Train to Lisbon, would not have entered my life had I not been traveling around the world. Mercier is a literary master, the thoughts expressed in the pages of Dr. Prado's book are sheer genius. As I absorbed the story, I imagined being Dr. Prado, living in Paris in the 1930s. I'm in my prime, drinking wine in smokey cafes, e

Why do we feel sorry for people who can't travel? Because, unable to expand externally, they are not able to expand internally either, they can't multiply and so they are deprived of the possibility of undertaking expansive excursions in themselves and discovering who and what else they could have become." Pascal Mercier I set off on this journey 23 years ago because I was searching for something, I had no earthly idea what it was, all I knew was that my life had become mundane, prescribed, and slavishly committed to peer pressure.  Pascal Mercier's iconic novel, Night Train to Lisbon, changed all that.  His protagonist, Raimund Gregorius, epitomized a life prescribed, one lived within the guardrails of suffocating academic peer pressure. A single event propelled Gregorius from his mundane and predictable existence into one that challenged his common sense. I suppose, on some level,  I'm a Gregorious clone, a man living according to the expectations of others at th