Ambassadorial
January 14th 2008 09:43
Their ambassadors would plead, supplicate, cajole, threaten, lobby, or bribe the bureaucrats who were administering the licenses and quotas.
This is a quote from a book on economic reforms in India. Why do I quote it? Because one job I’ve never quite understood is that of an ambassador.
In the past, ambassadors seem to play a fairly humble role, merely doing what they were told and getting on with it. Then they became something more, often putting their lives at risk to bring about peace between two warring groups.
Later in history they were everything and anything to anyone who’d got themselves into a spot of bother in a foreign country. The ambassador was like a father figure, or a friend from home, a person who understood you when no one else in the country did.
Lately the job seems to have become highly dangerous again, and ambassadors are used as pawns in a war game, called home at the drop of a hat if the other party won’t play the game, or uplifted at the first sign of an insult.
I’ve never actually met an ambassador, which, when you consider how many there must be in the world, is possibly something of a feat. The only time I came close to one was years ago when I was a postie, and had to deliver a letter or parcel by hand to the then Spanish ambassador, who had his residence in High St. It wasn’t one of those huge ambassadorial residences (like the American Ambassadorial residence in the picture); nope, this was a fairly modest but well-furnished place. The house is still there, but I don’t think the ambassador is.
Perhaps there’s a Spanish ambassador in Wellington still, or Auckland. But if you’re a Spaniard in Dunedin these days, and you get into strife, unfortunately you’ll be out of luck. No father figure to hold your hand, or pat you reassuringly on the back. You’re on your own.
Have you checked out this post for the 'word of the day?' Try to guess what it is and tell me in a comment.
The photograph is by Jaqian
This is a quote from a book on economic reforms in India. Why do I quote it? Because one job I’ve never quite understood is that of an ambassador.
In the past, ambassadors seem to play a fairly humble role, merely doing what they were told and getting on with it. Then they became something more, often putting their lives at risk to bring about peace between two warring groups.
Later in history they were everything and anything to anyone who’d got themselves into a spot of bother in a foreign country. The ambassador was like a father figure, or a friend from home, a person who understood you when no one else in the country did.
Lately the job seems to have become highly dangerous again, and ambassadors are used as pawns in a war game, called home at the drop of a hat if the other party won’t play the game, or uplifted at the first sign of an insult.
I’ve never actually met an ambassador, which, when you consider how many there must be in the world, is possibly something of a feat. The only time I came close to one was years ago when I was a postie, and had to deliver a letter or parcel by hand to the then Spanish ambassador, who had his residence in High St. It wasn’t one of those huge ambassadorial residences (like the American Ambassadorial residence in the picture); nope, this was a fairly modest but well-furnished place. The house is still there, but I don’t think the ambassador is.
Perhaps there’s a Spanish ambassador in Wellington still, or Auckland. But if you’re a Spaniard in Dunedin these days, and you get into strife, unfortunately you’ll be out of luck. No father figure to hold your hand, or pat you reassuringly on the back. You’re on your own.
Have you checked out this post for the 'word of the day?' Try to guess what it is and tell me in a comment.
The photograph is by Jaqian
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