I have always been passionate about social action, and I will be forever grateful for opportunities to get involved in social action in India. Another blog posting talks about the kids we have been tutoring down the road from IBM Research in New Delhi. Kids with insufficient food, poor hygiene, no education, and living in tents. Am I now “spoiled” for social action topics in the US, which will seem SO MUCH more manageable, even trivial?
I think about that with Amnon, and the scale and scope of construction projects that he is now managing in India. His company is building hotels, hospitals, whole towns. Amnon has commented that any one of his projects now exceeds in size all of the projects that he has managed in the US over 25 years, cumulatively.
Amnon's job as Sr VP of Feedback Infra is one of the many amazing and unexpected side benefits of our year in India. He is responsible for building hospitals, 5-star hotels, and townships. After building in India, it is hard to imagine building again in the west. For one, the construction and real estate sector is still in recession in the US although other parts of the economy are rebounding. I ask myself whether the US construction space will ever fully rebound...or has supply simply exceeded demand? It is a gift and a blessing to have these large and meaningful opportunities for Amnon to use his talents, in a place that deeply needs those talents, and where he is so appreciated. (My father used to sing an old show tune..."How are you going to keep them down on the farm, after they've seen Paree?)
I also recall the line in Crocodile Dundee. Someone pulls out a switchblade in the subway to threaten the star. He, in turn, pulls out a much longer knife from his waistband, and says something like “You call THAT a KNIFE?? THIS is a KNIFE.” And so similarly, will I feel like the social action problems we address in the US are just not that serious?
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