|
Four Great Stories, how to
represent the United States while in other countries
When in England at a fairly large conference, Colin Powell was
asked by the Archbishop of Canterbury if our plans for Iraq were just an
example of empire building by George Bush. He answered by saying, 'Over
the years, the United States has sent many of its fine young men and
women into great peril to fight for freedom beyond our borders. The only
amount of land we have ever asked for in return is enough to bury those
that did not return
.You could have heard a pin drop.
Then there was a conference in France where a number of international
engineers were taking part, including French and American. During a
break one of the French engineers came back into the room saying 'Have
you heard the latest dumb stunt Bush has done? He has sent an aircraft
carrier to Indonesia to help the tsunami victims. What does he intend to
do, bomb them?' A Boeing engineer stood up and replied quietly:
'Our carriers have three hospitals on board that can treat several
hundred people; they are nuclear powered and can supply emergency
electrical power to shore facilities; they have three cafeterias with
the capacity to feed 3,000 people three meals a day, they can produce
several thousand gallons of fresh water from sea water each day, and
they carry half a dozen helicopters for use in transporting victims and
injured to and from their flight deck. We have eleven such ships; how
many does France have?
..You could have heard a pin drop.
|
A U.S. Navy Admiral was attending a naval conference that
included Admirals from the U.S., English, Canadian, Australian and
French Navies. At a cocktail reception, he found himself standing with a
large group of Officers that included personnel from most of those
countries. Everyone was chatting away in English as they sipped their
drinks but a French admiral suddenly complained that, 'whereas Europeans
learn many languages, Americans learn only English.' He then asked, 'Why
is it that we always have to speak English in these conferences rather
than speaking French? Without hesitating, the American Admiral
replied 'Maybe it's Canadians, Aussies and Americans arranged it so you
wouldn't have to speak German
. You could have heard a pin
drop.
A group of Americans, retired teachers, recently went to France on a
tour. Robert Whiting, an elderly gentleman of 83, arrived in
Paris by plane. At French Customs, he took a few minutes to locate his
passport in his carry on. "You have been to France before, monsieur?"
the customs officer asked sarcastically. Mr. Whiting admitted that he
had been to France previously. "Then you should know enough to have your
passport ready." The American said, "The last time I was here, I
didn't have to show it." "Impossible. Americans always have to show your
senior gave the Frenchman a long hard look. Then he quietly explained.
"Well, when I came ashore at Omaha Beach on D-Day in 1944 to help
liberate this country, I couldn't find any damn Frenchmen to show it
to."
..You could have heard a pin
|
