The pool at the Hotel Salam is brim full—rather than a curb, it has a convex drain around the perimeter and the water laps gently into it. You can sit and dangle your feet in the water and enjoy the coolness of the evening.
It is an apt metaphor for Mali … this is an ancient culture that is brim full of opportunity, and much deeper than what appears on the surface. After you get past the dirt and heat and trash and poverty, the people are a refreshing oasis of hard work and ambition and courtesy and happiness, despite factors that would daunt many people, especially Americans.
If these people had the same opportunity that we do, they would astound us with their accomplishments. This is what Friedman wrote about in The World is Flat, but respect to India. These people are intelligent and driven to improve and learn and help their country. They lap at the problems in their country like the ripples in the pool.
If America wants friends, they are here, they are eager,--if we’d invest an iota of what we’re spending in Iraq, we’d reap more than we could imagine. I started to say that its too bad the country doesn’t have oil, so we’d b e interested in it. But given our reaction to the part of the world that does have oil, maybe the Malians are fortunate … there has to b e a better way .
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