EDITORIAL: Re: purpose and humility (07/20/97)

EDITORIAL

Re: purpose and humility

Several weeks ago, President Leonid Kuchma was in New York, where he spoke at the United Nations environmental summit, met with several world leaders, including Vice-President Al Gore, as well as members of the U.S. media and business community, and was feted at a private dinner at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, where he viewed the wonderful "Glory of Byzantium" exhibit to which Ukraine was a major contributor.

Within this very busy two-day schedule, he found about four hours to dine with the diaspora. Frankly, that was a complete waste of his time.

Organized within a matter of days and originally intended as a small dinner at the Harvard Club for no more than 40 people, to include the president's entourage and heads of representative diaspora organizations, the number of people and consequent disorganization tripled as uninvited people demanded to be included at the last minute. The original purpose, of course, was to have a limited group, empowered by their organizations to represent a larger group of people and interests, hear the president's comments and concerns and, in turn, express the concerns - political, economic, medical, religious, cultural - of the organizations they represent. Instead, the evening became an exercise in individual self-aggrandizement.

Though nominally the UACC and UCCA were co-hosts, we're not trying to point fingers at any group or blame any individual. Quite the opposite, as everybody participated in this silliness: the organizers (including Ukraine's diplomats), who kept buckling to pressure to "let just one more person in"; the people who said nothing, because to protest "wouldn't be nice"; the uninvited who refused to take "no" for an answer.

This was not intended to be a fund-raiser, or a thank-you dinner for major donors, or a come-one-come-all community event, or even a press conference (news media representatives were told in no uncertain terms that priority in posing questions after dinner would be given to the "community leaders"). Nonetheless, people threatened, cried, wheedled, cajoled, to get themselves, their spouses, their best friends invited to what was intended to be simply a small working dinner.

The president, visibly tired, was gracious and kind as he listened to a litany of poorly formed questions and uninformed ramblings about Crimea, Russia, NATO and the Ukrainian language, as "leaders" saw an opportunity to strut their stuff in front of Ukraine's chief executive. Is it too much to ask that more respect be shown for this man's limited resource of time and store of energy? As if that weren't enough, there were the types (we've all seen them) who had to interrupt the president's dinner to shamelessly ask him to pose for personal photos.

Ask yourself, if you are not the head of an organization, or a member of the president's entourage, what were you doing there (other than getting self-satisfaction and an ego massage)? You say you want President Kuchma to listen to your personal opinions? Why? You didn't elect him; he's not your president (Bill Clinton is).

The real question is: do we really need these pointless dinners every time the president comes to town? Such a waste of time is nothing more than a lost opportunity for the president, and for us, to do something more significant. Neither the president, nor the diaspora, can afford such arrogance and self-indulgence. We all may have equal worth as human beings, but on a day-to-day, working level, we're not all equal and we're not all pals. A little humility is good for the soul ...

We understand that this entire editorial may well be an exercise in futility - bad manners and stupidity are timeless, and some people don't understand limits even when it's spelled out for them. To paraphrase a once-popular American rock song: "you're so vain, you probably don't think this editorial is about you."

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