As your guide through the world of work, I’m honored today to present Dr. Imad Moustapha , Syria’s current Ambassador to the United States.
One of the things that for me defines a cool job is that it be extremely challenging and present new and interesting problems to be solved every day. If there is a more challenging job to be had than representing any Middle Eastern country during these troubled times, I can’t imagine what it would be.
From the humility, eloquence, and wry humor of his contribution, I can only assume that he is not only extremely good at what he does, it would also be fascinating to hang out with him for a while and watch him at work. And besides: how many people do you know that can start the answer to a question with, “The first time I met the President…”
1) When people ask you “what do you do?” how do you describe your job?
Usually, I never describe myself as the Ambassador, I tell people who ask me that I am a diplomat. When they ask me: From which country?, and I respond: Syria, they invariably become intrigued, because of the political issues between my country and the U.S. Usually this leads to a longer conversation, during which they discover that they are actually talking to the Ambassador himself. I find this unassuming and less formal.My job is to reach out to the American public, as well as political and intellectual circles, in order to convey the real face of Syria and not the one the mainstream media depicts. My job entails simultaneous demolition and construction –tearing down stereotypes, and building new bridges.
2) What are the things about your job that you love?
What I enjoy most is traveling the country, and interacting with the American public across the board on my different speaking engagements and getting to know the different faces of America . I especially enjoy watching people’s reactions when they learn about the true and multifaceted Syria , its history, culture, tradition, and politics.
4) What education, training, vocation or just plain luck would someone have to have in order to get a job like yours?
In order to get a job such as mine, Syria ’s representative to the United States under the Bush administration, one needs a good deal of bad luck. And to survive a job such as mine, one needs a good deal of patience. Having said this, an Ambassador needs to be well-read, fluent in many languages, engaging, and with a wide variety of interests (e.g. the Arts, economy, history, etc.)
“In order to get a job such as mine, Syria ’s representative to the United States under the Bush administration, one needs a good deal of bad luck.”
Ouch! I fell off my chair laughing. What a cool job, one that I would absolutely suck at.
You should let us in on what it takes to be a muse . . .
I enjoyed your site. Much fun . . .
I had exactly the same reaction, and Dr. Moustapha is now one of my new heroes. I think that answer and the anecdote he chose (out of hundreds of interesting experiences) were an incredibly polite and “diplomatic” way to convey his honest opinion of our current President. What a seriously classy guy! (I tend to use words like “dork”, personally.)
I say that in all reverence, as I am in awe like you. I have no doubt that in a position like that I would find the one way no one has thought of yet to make the current situation worse.
As for what it takes to be a “muse”: stay tuned. I’m sure I’ll get around to telling the story eventually…it is a good one.
Thanks for stopping by!
Fascinating!
My grandfather was a Vice Consul for the United States to whatever-country-needed-help-after-previous-bad-vice-consul-was-fired. He served in England, Finland, Madagascar, Brazil and the Azores among other places, from the 1920s through the 1950s.
Dr Moustapha’s description of his job reminded me of some of the stories my mother would tell me about her father – I think he, too, had a good deal of bad luck to get his job!
“In order to get a job such as mine, Syria ’s representative to the United States under the Bush administration, one needs a good deal of bad luck.”
Hee hee…Wow. What else can I say? The man’s a seriously accomplished diplomat, to be able to so eloquently and homorously convey his obvious general dislike of Bush!
I tend to use words to describe Bush that can’t be reproduced on a site that young eyes might be reading, so I’ll leave them to your imagination.
That said, I always tell people (and I even have this on a bumper-sticker on my car) I don’t have to like Bush to love my country.
I am so personally fed up with the right wing in this country insisting that I am anti America, or that I somehow “hate America” because I do not like Bush.
I think many people in our general public…as well as in public service…could do well to take some diplomacy lesson from Dr. Moustapha. He’s certainly opened my eyes somewhat – he isn’t precisely what one might expect…at least, given the media stereotype that we the people are fed, anyway.
Cool stuff, keep ’em coming, Carrie, I’m enjoying this almost as much as you are!
[…] is that speaking a few different languages can be a great route to ending up with a cool job:see Diplomat, Social Anthropologist, and Sign Language Interpreter. However, if none of those careers suits you, […]