"He who angers you conquers you." - Elizabeth Kenny
If you clicked on this entry expecting amusing references to the tiny-writing-no-margin-lots-of-red-underlining complains that are a consular officer's daily fare, Madam is sorry to disappoint you. She has another letter in mind today.
Among the many skills that a good consular officer acquires is the ability to listen without preconception, and to take on another person's point of view without filtering it through his or her personal experiences or beliefs. Also, to pick seeds of truth from the chaff of errors and exaggerations, and to assess that truth calmly, despite either deliberate or unintended provocation.
When an ELO asks Madam how to gain these essential skills, she hands him - and now hands you - a letter that was written a few years ago and which contains a great deal of truth and a great deal of error, and demands a great deal of level-headed calm, reason and tolerance.
Reading this letter and judging it for its content rather than its milieu is a difficult but extremely useful exercise. The arguments it presents are not irrational or insane. If you found yourself - as most do - clicking on the link and then immediately clicking away again in outrage, you have made a mistake that Madam hopes you will take the time to correct.
Click back and read it as if you had just received it in the mail, cold and with no context. Then disagree if you will, but do so on individual points alone, and from the side of knowledge and reason rather than passion. And disagree while understanding that millions of people in the world do not disagree, and understanding exactly why they do not. They are not all crazy, uneducated, dangerous, homicidal sociopaths. Most of them are like most of the rest of the people that exist in the world: intelligent, well-meaning, hopeful, and trying to understand their lives.
After this, the next several dozen letters, lies and complicated truths today will be easy.
Where U.S. consular officers can ...
... ask questions, answer questions, question answers, express frustrations, engage in debate, disagree, and tell their favorite consular stories, uncensored and anonymous.
Sensible immigration attorneys and puzzled visa applicants, petitioners, beneficiaries, and ACS cases are warmly welcomed, as well.
Sensible immigration attorneys and puzzled visa applicants, petitioners, beneficiaries, and ACS cases are warmly welcomed, as well.

Quote of the Month
“At any moment of the day or night, two thirds of the world’s people are awake, and some of them are up to no good."
- Dean Rusk
- Dean Rusk

Thursday, October 1, 2009
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