Third Day of Work

Only three short-ish interviews today. Adding that to yesterday, I have about 7 hours of interviews to transcribe and it's not going to be fun. Still, I am happy and grateful to have a job to do.

All of my interviews have been conducted in English, and I am impressed and humbled by how well people speak English. It's very common for younger Jordanian people, especially the wealthy, to go to school in the West or learn English in school here. I feel like a complete nincompoop and barbarian for only speaking one language. It's mortifying and unacceptable. I need to start learning a useful foreign language, like Arabic, Mandarin, or Spanish. When I have children, I need to emphasize bilingual (or multilingual) education as early as possible.

The people at JBCP continue to spoil me rotten. They've learned that I like Diet Pepsi, and are now keeping it in the office fridge for me. They switched out my cell phone with an even cooler cell phone (same number, for those who have it in case of emergencies). They're helping me arrange trips to other locations around Jordan, and are always recommending fun things for me to do.

It's very odd to be observing an organization as a third-party, and not be involved or in a position to act on any of the things I'm learning. It reminds me of one of my favorite quotes.

"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat." ~ Theodore Roosevelt

My assignment here is to be something of a critic, the one who points out how JBCP struggles and where JCBP could have done deeds better. The JBCP employees and partners are in the arena and kicking tushee. The case I'm writing will help JBCP and other organizations improve the work they do in the arena. It's valuable and important -- people in the arena need critics and pointers-out -- but it's reinforcing my overwhelmingly strong preference, and need, to be in the arena in some respect (maybe in my personal or civic life, not my professional life) at some point. Soon.