Back in the 50s and 60s, when I was growing up, America was Utopia to many Pakistanis. Why? I think that a sincere effort was being made by USA to actually do some good. Sure, part of it was propaganda (we didn’t see the Vietnam war as horrific till much later) but institutions like United States Information Service (USIS) delivered a valuable lesson to youth on the streets — that there was a world of possibilities out there anywhere on the globe. Not only did USIS provide info on education colleges that we could apply to in usa but also shared other tools to raise awareness. In many ‘third world’ countries. Documentaries, music shows, innovative events that filled us with wonder and curiosity. Invaluable. A huge library was free to the public. In major cities. It was a haven to keep youth from the streets. That in itself was overwhelming. We LOVED America! I saw my first rudimentary 3D film. Can you imagine what it did to our fertile minds??? What we call IMAX today, we watched in a huge round marquis in which breath taking images circled around us. Mountains, rivers, skyscrapers. The Grand Canyon. A Chiaroscuro of seven wonders of the world. Wow. Back in the late fifties/early sixties.

USAID was instrumental in vital development projects. Dams which were built with American tax payer $$$ are still very much there. Yes, America was great then.

But sadly, funding was pulled and you can imagine the rest. If usa had built and funded libraries and education infrastructure, madrassahs would’ve paled into obscurity. America lacked vision and took the wrong fork at a critical crossroads. Fear of communism, Chicago school Capitalism and imperialist dreams became a global nightmare.

Can america be great again? Much as you can’t step into the same river twice, I’ll say what Jeff Daniels says that marvelous tv show ‘The News Room:’ Yes we can.

I’ll stop now!