And now the end.
But first some photos!
Here's Dubai...
And Vellore/CMC...
And finally our after trip to Delhi, Jaipur, and Agra.
But back to the ending.
So, what is the sum total of my four weeks, extended traveling, and numerous contributor dollars? Well, a little and a lot. Physically I am much the same. I miraculously lost little weight surviving on a diet of mostly refined starches, and to my knowledge I have brought no guests back with me in my gastrointestinal tract. Financially I am much the same, thanks to the generous scholarships so graciously provided. Emotionally and spiritually? Still the same unmoved faithless guy as before. Mostly, I have changed mentally. Not that my thoughts themselves have changed, as for the most part they have not, but they have certainly become more clear and refined. Medicine and infectious disease have even greater appeal and resonance to me than they did before -- and they appealed to me a lot before. International work has been the direction I have felt pulled in for years and the pull is even stronger now. Humanism -- that conglomeration of reason, ethics, and justice -- has always made sense to me, but its essential value was made apparent to me during my stay.
During the trip and in the ensuing weeks in Washington DC thereafter, these and other thoughts culminated in the coalescing of my beliefs. Up until now my patriotism, love of science, and enjoyment of politics had always been separate and independent issues. Now, however, I feel and see that they are all very connected. The stark contrasts of Delhi, India, and Washington DC, USA, forced many questions, the greatest of which concerning the nature of each nation's differences, pasts, and futures. Although in many ways very modern and daily modernizing even more, my eyes were constantly drawn to the numerous vestiges that keep India in the past. Internecine religious conflict, cultural chauvinism, oppressive gender roles, and a historical legacy of corruption, despotism, and inequality have and still hold India back from the power that is rightfully its own. In Washington, however, the multitude of monuments and museums espousing and celebrating the country's birth as the political incarnation of the Enlightenment highlight most everything that has helped make the United States and the West great. The scientific method, rationalism, liberty, equality, civil society, and democracy are certainly not the only things that have given America its power, but they were and are important foundations for the dramatic rise to prominence that it has experienced. It is also all these which will continue to empower a safer, fairer, and richer not only West but entire world. My trip therefore served as a display of contrasts of what the world frequently is and what the world should be.
These contrasting observations, though obviously exaggerations, can arguably be said to be held by people the world over. No matter what many think of the United States as it now is, the United States as a concept is for many synonymous with Westernism and with all the ideas and values previously listed associated with that. The uniting realization that I have come to is that it is essential that this remain the case. Without imperialism and the technological superiority it once had, the West faces an inevitable decline not necessarily in absolute terms, but certainly relative to the population giants China and India. As America becomes then more and more simply one out of many global powers the unquestioned legitimacy of all that it stood for will be increasingly examined for merit. If the US abandons its foundational principles to further cling to what remaining power it has or if it more quickly crashes into irrelevance through selfishness and conceit the ideas of the Enlightenment will be likely found wanting, and the world will suffer. And so it all comes together. The Scientific Revolution brought about the Enlightenment which birthed the United States, and it is now the United States which represents these in the world today. It is only through their continued union, at least in the short term, that both will be guaranteed survival. Western power will fade, but without Western thought there can never be a lasting peace or prosperity.
So that’s my revelation. Until the rising powers are successfully anchored in the humanistic ideals it is critical that the US be there to preach them. My patriotism which, like most loves was always a bit irrational, now has a clearer base to stand on. In a small way I feel that in as much as I practice a religion this is it. Salvation, at least here on Earth, will only come through a humble, honest philosophy championed by a righteous nation. It is essential then that we return to righteousness. All of this said it should be noted that I do not nor ever would claim that the United States is perfect or without error. Likewise I do not wish to create the impression that my impression of India is only negative; hopefully my previous posts would at least suggest otherwise. All of the troubles I have listed as observing in India can be readily seen in the States just as in any developed or developing nation. Truly no country or peoples is completely free from the ideological chains that have for forever bound them all. Similarly, I believe India to in many ways be a great country with many positive attributes of its own. It is simply that though during these past two months my eyes have been drawn to a great number of things, for the purposes of this discussion my mind has had to focus on but a few. I don’t know if I will be going back to India anytime soon, but I will always be happy I went.
So that’s what I’ve gotten out of India. That and a pleasurable set of memories that I will hopefully not soon forget. And just to prove my philosophical credentials I offer up a photo of me in India, with a very scholarly beard.
Thank you everyone who helped set up and support this elective. Good times.
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