The Foreign Service Journal, July-August 2006

92 F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L / J U LY- A U G U S T 2 0 0 6 R EFLECTIONS A Deep Bow to the Foreign Service B Y A SHLEY W ILLS I n 1972, I set off from the small- town South to join the Foreign Service. I stopped along the way at the University of Georgia to meet with Dean Rusk, Secretary of State in the Kennedy and Johnson administra- tions, who had just joined the law fac- ulty there. I had not called ahead to seek an appointment; I suppose I thought I could just walk in unan- nounced to chat with one of the most eminent figures of the mid-20th cen- tury. I arrived at the law school late in the afternoon and was directed to Rusk’s office. His door was open and I could see him at his desk, his back to the door. Unaccountably, I lost my nerve and walked by his office twice without mustering the gumption to knock. On my third pass, he bel- lowed: “Don’t be timid, boy; come on in!” To my delight, Rusk was extraordi- narily gracious. We talked for more than two hours: about the Foreign Service, the Cuban Missile Crisis, Vietnam. It was a thrilling moment for me, a 22-year-old, to talk about great events with a participant in them. As I got up to leave, I asked the Secretary if he had any parting coun- sel for me as I embarked on a career in the Foreign Service. He thought for several moments and then said, solemnly: “Watch what you eat, and keep your zipper up!” It was not what I expected to hear. It was earthy, politically incorrect even then, and funny as hell. I laughed, we shook hands and I left his office. As I drove through the night to Washington, I thought if such a per- son could thrive in the Foreign Service, perhaps it would be a good professional home for me, too. Thirty-four years later, I can report that the Foreign Service was a won- derful career for me. Never having set foot outside the United States when I joined the Service, I thought I would explore the world for two or three years, and then come home to take up a sensible profession my rural relatives would understand. It didn’t happen that way; the Foreign Service seduced me. It appealed to my sense of romance and adventure. I delighted in en- counters with otherness, in finding myself in some truly exotic spot in this over-discovered world. The Foreign Service brought out my patriotism. I felt pride in represent- ing a well-intentioned society, no matter who was president. I liked debating ideas and policies with for- eigners. I thrived on having change built into my profession. I enjoyed being part of a team of embassy col- leagues engaged in a noble enter- prise. And I loved the laughter: the Foreign Service deals with serious issues but, let’s face it, diplomacy is a very amusing occupation. If you can’t find the funniness in the pre- tensions of diplomatic custom or the surprises that attend living in a for- eign culture, then — in the idiom of Georgia — you was raised wrong. Perhaps I’ve gone gooey about the FS in my recently-retired state of mind. Certainly time has rounded the edges of my memory, allowing me to luxuriate in nostalgia and to forget most of the irritations of the diplo- matic calling. Or perhaps I really was a natural-born ramblin’ man. If Secretary Rusk were advising a prospective diplomat today, he surely would add a third admonition: Duck! Danger and anti-Americanism have been part of our professional lives for years, but today’s American diplomats encounter threats and hatred as never before. I have visited our embassies in Afghanistan and Iraq and was struck by the claustrophobia of our compounds and the courage of our colleagues. Menace hangs around both Kabul and Baghdad like mist in a Sherlock Holmes story. But insecurity is now chronic everywhere. Jefferson could return from his wanderings to Monticello, but in the modern world, where is it safe to hide? Not even the fastnesses of America’s coasts offer us a retreat anymore. So I salute today’s Foreign Service employees. It’s no longer enough to have a sense of curiosity about the world, or patriotism, or love of team- work. In today’s Foreign Service, one needs to be brave, big-time. Ashley Wills served as ambassador to Sri Lanka and the Maldives, in addi- tion to postings in Romania, South Africa, Barbados, Yugoslavia, Bel- gium, India and Washington, D.C. Stamp courtesy of the USPS.