Ambassador Quainton

In class today, Ambassador Quainton was our last guest speaker. I feel that he was the perfect person to end the series of guest speakers. I found him extremely fascinating. My roommate joking said that he was the only speaker that I really enjoyed because he is from SIS. I guess that could be part of why I enjoyed class today so much, but I think it has more to do with the fact that he has dedicated his life to the Foreign Service and done exactly what I want to do. Ambassador Quainton also brought up some very interesting points about American identity. He pointed out how most Americans tend to view their identities in terms of the future. The whole idea that Americans set out to change the world. This is in contrast with how most of the world views its identity. Most other people view their identities in terms of the past and their culture's history. American tend to forget history, as do the former colonial powers. Ambassador Quainton also mentioned how the US views itself as a whole. Traditionally the idea of the US has been a "melting pot", but now there is a new idea of a "salad bowl". This means that the US does not need to be and is not a homogeneous mixture. People do not need to bury and forget their history and culture to become American as in past centuries. The final point that Ambassador Quainton made that I found interesting was the idea that in diplomatic relations the US really does need to become a good listener. The US is all to willing to lecture, but not listen. I found today's class to be fascinating.