I think you know that. You are working in the vast area of diplomacy?
You spend most of your time reading papers or listening to the news.
And then you may think, “That can’t be true,” and consider what I can do. However, you may feel overwhelmed and unsure of your abilities. As a result, you may procrastinate and do nothing at first. You may question your actions and wonder what you have accomplished. You may find yourself stuck in a cycle of inaction, moving from one unproductive state to another.
That’s me. At least up to this year.
I had resigned to enduring everything without speaking out or sharing my experiences. I barely post on social media, and then there are some harmless photos about some activities, mostly not anything about expressing my views or my opinion about certain things. It is not worth the effort.
I had accepted that my life, as someone not destined to go out into the world, would follow the course of history and eventually be forgotten at home.
Then, I see my little daughter!
I wonder what kind of world I will leave her in. Given my modest influence, do I leave her anything at all? What can I teach her and leave behind that will help her navigate life and make a positive difference? I know that many people feel this way.
I wouldn’t say that my wife is directly responsible for the idea behind DiplomacyBites, but her gift certainly played a crucial role. She gave me a journal filled with over 250 questions I was supposed to answer for my daughter – a collection of memories meant to capture my life and give her a glimpse into my experiences. The title? “Dad, I want to hear your story.”
As I flipped through the pages, I wondered: What should I write? What is truly valuable? Which experiences could help you navigate this world more effectively? As I reflected, memories of encounters, cultures, and events from different parts of the world came flooding back.
And that’s when the idea for DiplomacyBites was born – in both senses of the word. Bites are small, concise pieces of knowledge that make diplomacy more accessible and understandable. But also bites as in something that bites back – because diplomacy can be sharp, challenging, and sometimes even biting.
This realization prompted me to develop this platform, enabling me to express my thoughts and reflections on contemporary events (from my unique perspective). I firmly believe that these insights can assist my four-year-old daughter in comprehending the world that appears incomprehensible to us today. Even if my efforts prove unsuccessful, she will better understand my thoughts.
So, the journal wasn’t the only thing that inspired this idea for DiplomayBites. I’ve been reading newspapers and watching social media lately and kept asking myself, ‘Is this even possible?’
And to top it all off, my doubts about my analytical understanding of the current state of the world have grown even more substantial. Despite all the years of experience I’ve gained, I had a pretty good grasp of things, supported by my analytical approach. But guess what? I was completely wrong with some of my assumptions.
I thought the UK’s exit from the EU would be a close decision, but I never imagined it would happen. And guess what? Donald Trump won the first time, and I still estimate that all those scandals would scare people away from voting for him.
I made a mistake again in predicting a political outcome. I stopped making these predictions and started accepting things as they were beginning to develop. But that hasn’t changed anything. I started to wonder if this comfortable acceptance of wrong things is really something I would like to pass down to my daughter. I don’t want to give that to my daughter. I want to give my daughter a better world than I’ve experienced, like all other fathers, most likely.