Jose Luis, my landlord, Christmas Dinner

I ate Christmas dinner with Jose Luis, my landlord. These are some thoughts that ran through my head when I got home:

His shirt had a picture of a king and queen sitting on the throne. When he danced, I wondered if the queen was smiling again. His son, Ken, stood up and started stamping his feet to the sound of a Capeverdean woman’s voice emerging from his brand new stereo system behind me. Ze Luis, my landlord, is a nurse at the hospital across town. While I mimmicked his smooth cavalier dance, I thought to myself:

If a Doctrine is a body of organized thoughts that follow to some degree a religious, legal, and military indoctrination, because of the recent shift in communication, could we rewrite a doctrine of foreign policy that incorporates the Internet? Is it possible this doctrine could apply to all the essential elements of foreign policy?

There is hard power which is violent, there is soft power which is subtle and then there is smart power which is intelligent. Smart power executes the many tools of diplomacy and community development, wisely.

The reason the government runs such a tight ship is because they can. Traditional business methods enable certain acts of immorality to take place because of an imperfect system of communication. With the Internet slowly becoming organized, a smart government should be leaping over itself to innovate. Writing a doctrine, collectively, might be the first step to figuring out how it could work.

We should collaborate our knowledge on what a government should stand for on something like Wikipedia then expand it to an appropriate level of public involvement. How could this work? Google Earth? Probably, linked in with tons of other tools. The reason this hasn’t happened yet is because ‘men are not angels’ (Federalist Papers #51) and because the Internet is still a baby. The imperfect system of communication, has allowed people to play favorites behind the scenes. Once the Internet turns into a cranky toddler, people will learn how to bitch and moan.

Before we danced at the dinner table, we watched the first part of Goldeneye and had a grogue. It was tasty although my forehead tightened in the middle where you get that crease when you get old. ‘Bu gosta di televisor?’ Ze fiddled with the controllers while he flipped between the movie, a commercial for a music store in Praia and a music dvd. I enjoyed the show, but in the back of my mind, I couldn’t shake this connection, or disconnection, running through my head:

The battle of the sexes is something that has forever baffled the greatest men and women. It’s the ultimate balance of two worlds. Does every species, in order to successfully procreate, have an equal and opposite chromosome that attracts and repels the other? Always in constant balance, never being able to fully enjoy the end but only being able to relish the means, the present. Finishing an idea only provides temporary excitement. The thrill is in the nudging and growing and teaching and admiring the work. Enter babies, it’s something you start through love and continue to enjoy it while it grows, never knowing what will come next or what it will do, knowing you have a to put in what you can, while at the same time learning to let go.

“Boas festas, feliz natal, and happy christmas,” Ze toasted. We ate baked duck, sausage and rice. It was sabe. I had three servings and still feel full.