Estadounidense

Despite concerning the same theme as my Franklin´s Choice entry of the month, this is not, in fact, that entry...this month, you get TWO heady entries for the price of one! Happy Reformation Day (a day late).

Monday, when I should have been updating (this is, after all, Mate Mondays), I was instead at the Embassy of the United States of America to the Oriental Republic of Uruguay. Say that ten times fast. Good. And now in Spanish - La Embajada de los Estados Unidos de América a la República Oriental del Uruguay. You can say that ten times fast as well, if you so desire. Silliness aside, I had to go to the embassy to get extra pages added to my passport. If you absolutely must go to a U.S. embassy while abroad, this is the reason to have to do it - it´s (for a goverment-run office) fairly quick and painless and does not involve interrogation; the same cannot be said about procedures for lost/stolen passports, tax concerns, etc.

The embassy, quite frankly, is a shabby testimony to what I would call the American ideal, but is probably a wonderful example of what the U.S. has become in the eyes of the rest of the world since 1898. You wouldn´t have thought that a little old affair like the Spanish-American War (a 6-month or so struggle between the U.S. and, in the words of Dave Barry, "a nation with the military prowess of a tuna casserolle") would be a defining moment in U.S., and world, history, but it is. The day we sailed into Manila Bay with guns blazing was the day that the Republic died and the Empire was born.

Earlier in my time here, I read a rather tedious, although brief, book on protecting Christianity from imperialism. I can´t say that I fully agreed with the author, and he did an incredibly poor job of proving to me that he really believes that the current U.S. government is just another in a string of imperialist administrations rather than somehow an enormous aberration, but he had his good points, too. We decided 109 years ago that our God-given duty is to meddle and dominate, and so we meddle and dominate away, not particularly caring that the rest of the world doesn´t particularly care to be meddled with or dominated.

The U.S. embassy here in Montevideo is a beautiful, or tragic (take your pick) piece of that history. It makes no effort whatsoever to appear like more typically Uruguayan buildings in the city, which is a shame when you consider that Montevideo is an architectural gem. Nope, we came in and built an ugly, square gray concrete building that looks exactly like every other goverment office building ever put up by the U.S. Entering the building is the next affront to the sensibilities. It´s one of the very few buildings in central Montevideo to have a wall around it, and I´ve not seen a wall that tall since leaving the U.S. The capitols of both Argentina and Uruguay are more accessible than the U.S. embassy - no mean feat in countries with histories of political violence and instability. To enter, you have to wait until a security guard decides to give you access, and if you´re in line for a visa, I recommend wearing comfy shoes, as you´ll be there a while. In another nod to good ol´ American government bureaucracy, the embassy only allows entry up until noon-ish, takes about 30 holidays during the year, and isn´t open on the weekends. In other words, if you have a 9-5 Monday to Friday job, you´ll be taking the day off to do your business with Uncle Sam.

Once you´re let inside, you´re given a number for your wait in the consular section, go through security two times, and then, after surrendering your cell phone and all other signal-receiving electronic devices, are allowed into the consular office. At least they have reading material....IN ENGLISH. If you´re Uruguayan and not in the mood for U.S. News and World Report, The Economist, or Popular Mechanics, then you´re going to be bored. Oh wait, if you´re Uruguayan, you´re filling out visa paperwork while being bossed around and sent back and forth. As a U.S. citizen, one of my inalienable rights is apparently to a magazine and a relatively peaceful wait. They took care of my business without being too rude (shocker), and that was that.

I think my favorite moment came after the embassy of fun and adventure. It´s located right on La Rambla, the beautiful seaside path in the city (at least they did a good job of picking prime real estate to ruin with such an ugly building), so I decided to walk for a while and enjoy the sunshine. The natural curve of the coastline resulted in a spectacular view of the city skyline...and the embassy, sticking out like a drab concrete middle finger against the backdrop of Parque Rodó. And then, it was gone. I walked around the bend, and I didn´t have to look at it any more.

I don´t want to seem like an unpatriotic, America-bashing, Dixie Chick-lovin´ ex-pat. I love my country, and I love the ideals - life, liberty, equality before the law - that are layed out in so many of the foundational documents that we hold dear. At the same time, I know how we act - arrogant, self-absorbed, brutal. We´ve backed military dictators over freely-elected leftists to spite the Russians, not caring that those military dictators were more brutal killers than the socialists we overthrew in places like Chile and Nicaragua. We´ve hamstrung the economies of many a developing nation with the World Bank and IMF´s restructuring programs. We´ve let ourselves become ignorant of global issues and never give a thought to our impact on other peoples because our money gives us the luxury of not having to think about it - when you´re on top, you don´t have to think about the other 99 people in a heap beneath you. If they squirm too much, you can always give them a swift kick to get them to stop shaking your TV around and messing up the reception. If there´s just one thing I want to bring back home with me from all my time abroad (nopt just my time in Uruguay), it´s this - empires decline and fall because, in their time of need, they don´t have any friends. Maybe it´s time to start thinking a little more about who we really are, and what we really ought to be.

PS - This is the "Bad Cop" entry, born of frustration, exhaustion, and maybe even an oncoming cold or virus of some sort. My next musing on this subject will be the "Good Cop" spin - ideals and hope rather than cold, gray buildings on a beautiful white sand beach.