Here’s the text of the short talk I gave at the Human Development Foundation annual fundraising dinner in San Jose, California on May 30, 2009:
I want to tell you about three Americans that Pete Sabo and I ran into on our recent trip to Pakistan.
Two of them we actually encountered during our return journey, on the long flight from Dubai to Atlanta. Almost all of the other passengers were US soldiers and contractors returning from Iraq. One of these was a huge young white man from Alabama who wore a t-shirt that said “Firearms Instructor” on the front and, on the back, a quote from the Nazi general Erwin Rommel: “In the absence of orders, find something and kill it.”
The other was a 60-year-old black man from Houston named Herman. Herman and I had a long conversation as we waited at the gate in Dubai. I didn’t take notes or record it because it wasn’t an interview, and I didn’t want to be presumptuous or rude. It was a providential encounter that left me feeling hopeful, despite the severe problems facing both the country I had just visited and the country I was returning to.
Herman told me he was making good money in Iraq, and that he had taken the contract because he was nearing retirement and needed to secure his family’s future. He spoke with pride of his childhood memories of the civil rights movement, and with disappointment about how his 30-year-old daughter had no memory or appreciation of everything that movement had achieved and what the achievement had cost. He said he was proud to see a black man in the White House. He shared with me his regret at never having finished college, but said that his years in the military had given him the chance to meet many interesting people, learn about other cultures, and see the world.
He spoke with special warmth of a village in the Philippines where he’s known and treated as a friend. He made an impression on me. And, when we boarded the plane and went our separate ways, I felt sad.
I did write down one thing Herman said, because it seemed to say a lot, and it agreed with my own experience. “If you live among people you get to know ‘em,” he said. “And if you get to know ‘em, you don’t fear ‘em.” Herman’s words sum up what I’ve learned in Pakistan.
The third American I want to tell you about is Dr Shahnaz Khan, the chairperson of HDF. Pete and I had the good fortune to spend a day with Shahnaz in early April at an HDF site outside Lahore. That was my first chance to see HDF’s work on the ground, and I was humbled and impressed. HDF does important work in Pakistan, and it needs our support.
Most of HDF’s board members are Pakistani physicians settled in the US, and I want to talk a little about this. On that day in Lahore, I took the opportunity to ask Shahnaz about her family practice in Florida. “What I’m seeing now is a reflection of the economy,” she told me. “A lot of people losing their jobs, in the past one year. How people are coping with that is, they’re postponing anything that is not an emergency. People are shopping around for cheaper sources for medication. If they don’t have the money to pay the premium, what are they going to do? I had a patient whose wife came to me and said her husband was really depressed. He was a builder, and he had built five houses to sell, and he couldn’t sell them.”
Shahnaz interests me because she’s deeply engaged with both Pakistan and America. I asked how her American patients related to her as a Pakistani.
“I have no problem, really no problem at all,” she said. “Even after 9/11 and all of this negative publicity. They know my mother lives alone, so they’re always asking about her. They knew when my father passed away. They actually tell me they think of me when they listen to the news.”
At this time of crisis in both countries, I want to emphasize the special role the Pakistani-American community is in a position to play - in both countries. Pakistan needs you right now, and so does America.
Give generously to HDF. At the same time, please be actively and assertively involved in American political and civic life.
Claim your right as an American community to influence the full gamut of this country’s attitudes and policies, on everything from health care to Pakistan. When there’s a political or humanitarian crisis in Pakistan, please reach out not only to other Pakistanis, but also to other Americans. Don’t assume that they’ll be unsympathetic or that they won’t be able or willing to understand. They need to understand, and you can help. Remember what Herman told me: “If you live among people, you get to know ‘em. And if you get to know ‘em, you don’t fear ‘em.”
And please remember that in me you have a friend and ally. Thank you.
