peacetraveler22 | Remembering Samantha Smith

Hello dear readers! I know many of you voted for me to travel to the Rocky Mountains of Colorado, but unfortunately finances are tight and airfare there too expensive. So, in a week, I'll return to my beloved Maine and go on another road journey to New England. During the trip, I plan on meeting with Samantha Smith's mother in Boothbay Harbor. What questions do you want me to ask her?

I've had no time for the blog recently due to a hectic work and life schedule. :( However, next week I'll show you "good Russia," with stories about Kazan and Ples from the winter journey. In the meantime, please let me know what questions you have for Samantha's mom. I'm happy I can finally leave the office for a week, meet with her, and relax in the beautiful surroundings of cozy New England. Does the younger generation in Russia know about Samantha's legacy? How do they learn about her? Or, is she mostly known to those who grew up during the Soviet period? I think her mother will be interested in knowing these facts. :) Have a nice weekend!

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I remember her story in the development, it was great demonstration of good will and simple effort to change things for better. Unfortunately, she was writing to Andropov only. From my point of view ( well confirmed by recent decades) she should be considering of what her country was doing wrong as well. Now, her legacy - unfortunately, things did not change much. I am deeply concerned, for instance, by the activities of the organisations like this one https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Endowment_for_Democracy
They are spending out tax money to support a very questionable organisations abroad with no public control over the spendings, goals and personalities receiving these grants. It is government, tax money, laundered over private fund... Soft power in action to promote democracy or corruption? What do they bring to these countries? Chaos, I think, pursuing a single world power influence everywhere, dressed in democracy suite. Leading should be done by example, not by bribing or enforcement.
After all these years, it would be very interesting to know her mom thoughts, thanks for doing it. I may also suggest to ask your reader what questions they would like to be asked...

Children can't begin to understand the intricacies of foreign policy and global affairs. They mostly see only good and bad. In the post, I did ask readers what questions they want me to ask. :) Personally, I'm curious if Samantha's mom follows current events in Russia, so many years after her daughter made an impact there. You don't think think any country should serve as "world" police to try to maintain stability?

No, I do not think that a role of world police should be taken by anybody, US in particular. It always hurts the feeling of other countries citizens or could make the countries act irresponsibly, since there is a big boy, taking care about everything. Also, US has a very poor record of respecting foreign sovereignty and made a lot of ugly mistakes. There is an intentional keeping focus or unilateral informing on foreign event in US media, keeping foreign affairs out of scope of the voters, justified by security reasons. And what is out of openness and visibility - commonly creates an environment for lawlessness. Just a situation with Guantanamo Bay or using tortures shows a lot. Or this amazing NED. More over - even if you live in Seattle, you will not see Vancouver weather on your TV Weather report. It is somewhere there in nowhere, you should not care.
From my side, I would ask Samantha's mom to share memories, that her daughter had after coming back from Soviet Union, that were probably left out of interviews in 80-s.

What do you mean "respecting foreign sovereignty?" Give me an example please. If you live in Seattle and want to know the weather in Vancouver, it's very simple. :) Simply go online, or watch a national broadcast like CNN or Fox News, or the Weather Channel. For the intelligent and curious, no issues are outside their scope. We live in an era of information overload, so those who wish to be informed on any topic can read a multitude of resources to formulate opinions about almost any global topic. But most people are too lazy to do it. I don't think there should be a "world police" either, but it's a delicate balance. Stronger nations should sometimes help weaker ones.

on >>respecting foreign sovereignty<<
There is a key moment in "Quite American" . I do not remember the exact quote, it was like this... The CIA agent is saying to the reporter - "And what would you do if they elected who they did?"
>>On weather - of course I can find out it online, the question is - why Euronews are showing it all over the globe. It's a reflection of different mentality.
>>People are too lazy -- this is true, and they are fed by what someone decided they should know, cheery-picked.
>>delicate balance - I agree, however, what I see, US if well beyond it, and GosDep (a swear word in Russia) knows it well, otherwise it will not be providing this help using middleman shadow structures, visually separating their activities from itself and making them nontransparent for that lazy people? who will not dig to figure out why Putin is stopping this structures. Looks like the special operations to me.
The real way to promote the values is not funding anti-government organizations, but setting the examples of these values in action inside... You mentioned earlier educational system. It is now set to be a money machine. I would add here healthcare, social security, racial issues, poverty and low incentives to get job instead of abusing ssi. The exceptions could be done only for emergencies like natural disasters.

Edited 2015-07-31 19:05 (UTC)

Thanks, it's always interesting to hear your views. :) About education, yes it's a big business and not only tuition for schools, but also all the prep tests involved (like the LSAT for law school, GMAT for grad school, etc.). Plus, many people take courses to prepare for these tests. All of it is very, very expensive unless you get a scholarship or grant, or have rich parents to pay for everything. Most people are not born with this luxury.

In the morning today I watched CollegeBoard briefing reporting that some leading U's are drafting the plans to abandon SAT/ACT.... to provide the way for even bigger diversity and considering what family income level is. I feel my 14 years daughter, going 1-2 years above age all AP classes with an excellent grades has no chances there and condemned to go to local state U. She is not diverse and poor enough. I am very skeptical on how their acceptance work. The only good news is that it would be definitely easier for my wallet.

Yes, it's true. Just this week, one of the most prestigious universities - George Washington University - made the announcement students no longer have to take these placement tests for admissions. http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/grade-point/wp/2015/07/27/george-washington-university-applicants-no-longer-need-to-take-admissions-tests/. You think this is good or bad?

I can have an opinion on that only if I would understand the whole process and matrix of decision making of the acceptance. The tests may not have a big weight there even before elimination. The process never was disclosed, and having good grades and test scores only get you in state universities for sure, otherwise it's a lottery. Also, inheritance acceptance should be thrown away. I could not understand why some high rank politician, graduated from Yale automatically paves the road for his average grade son? But it's official. And where are all these equal opportunities?

Remembering Samantha Smith - Journey to Maine

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