Not All The Way Home 3

Part 3

Growing up was a trap Kate concluded! Life was so much easier before. Now she had to fight for what she believed in, she had to stand up for what was right and unbelievably, demand in some way  to be respected where she was looked down on. Finally, she was glad to have Mrs. in her corner as it took less energy now. Mrs. was a handful to deal with if you were not in her good books. Kate was not there to make best friends but to work, however, a cordial environment would certainly help.

The office was definitely different since six colleagues were laid off, there were mixed feelings, there was anger, people were still not convinced that the true reason was given why so many were let go. The case was reported to the National Human Rights Commission by two of the people who were let go. The Commission wrote to make enquiries of the case but was given a flimsy, very well thought out response that paralysed the Commission from taking any action. Knowing that this was an international organisation in a host country, there were restrictions as this organisation was covered by diplomatic immunities and privileges, there was not much the Commission could do.

Not All The Way Home - Part 2

Kate was left alone to her thoughts and burst into tears in shame, pity and God knows what other emotion she was feeling… Life as we know it is so unfair she thought to herself. She could not explain why she was so emotional, but her heart was fully in this. She knew the family of one of the men who would be laid off and wondered how they would cope.

She was a single woman, living the life of her dreams, earning so much money that she almost did not know what to do with it. She liked her job but not as much as she did her last. Then, she made tangible impact but now, it was more theoretic. 

She had a meeting she was not fully prepared for, so she pulled herself together as she needed to get her presentation finished. She had worked tirelessly to try to make her dear colleague see that she knew her job and was good at it but the Mrs. was adamant and had her mind made up. Some other colleagues had warmed up to her but would only refer to her as the pretty girl, her work was hardly spoken about. Mrs. was equally good at her job but was just being a WOMAN! 

They both reported to the same person, she was also a woman but was extremely pleasant. It was sometimes uncomfortable to be in the same room as Mrs. and the boss but Kate was not in the job to compete with or harm anybody.

A view on the diplomatic/foreign service

Disclaimer – if as a diplomat, you do not have the ability to stomach criticism, please do not read further as you may identify yourself in a behavioural category in this post. If you are comfortable with being criticised please enjoy reading. This post is meant to evoke critical thinking. 

It has been talked about so many times of how diplomats who represent the finest of a country go abroad to serve their governments. The sad part is that some of these individuals happen to show the worst of their countries. I say so because people who have never had any contact with the countries the diplomats represent, could easily take it to be the way majority of the people from that country would behave.