Wednesday, August 27, 2008

My Attempt at a Thomas Friedman Column

I was off in an exotic and dangerous part of the world when an extremely mundane thing happened to me. Maybe a hotel waiter gave me profusive thanks for a gratuity, or I saw an impoverished man using a cell phone. This event suddenly and vividly gave me an entirely new understanding of how the world works. Such was my dumbfoundment and surprise that I realized a new term or phrase was needed to succinctly describe this vital new lesson. So I coined one and am introducing it here.

This new Coined Phrase explains a lot. It explains why Americans are losing their competitive edge, and why Europe is leading the way in green tech. As I explain this is detail, your mind will wander back to the original mundane event, wondering a) if such a thing really illustrates what I am claiming it does, and b) why all of my vignettes seem to occur during the taxi ride to the hotel or the airport.

Now that I am returning to the aftermath of the mundane thing that happened, I will repeat the new, Coined Phrase in a tautological attempt to validate it. Do you really want to leave your children unprepared in a world that has ignored the clear signs of what I've been talking about? Look at the clever citizens of the country I am reporting from... do they look like they're unprepared?

To put it all in perspective, consider what links the Coined Phrase insight with the events of 9/11. Haven't guessed it? What links them are my own puns and facile alliterations. Such as: "While we're scrutinizing our ocean ports, they are busy upgrading their computer ports."

Friends, make no mistake - the time for change is now.