Chilean Serendipity

tl;dr: A quick look at the world through the eyes of South Americans thanks to the visit to the Chilean Embassy.

On my walk from the meeting to the Phillips Gallery, along Massachusetts Ave. and “Embassy Row,” I saw a banner hanging outside the Chilean Embassy about an art exhibit they were sponsoring on climate change with the Corcoran Gallery.

I figured, “hey, it’s a right brain cultivation day, let’s go for it.”

I was buzzed in and shown to the gallery.

It so happened at the exact moment that I showed up, the entire Chilean Embassy staff was having their holiday party, so naturally I made myself at home.

The Chilean Perspective
I visited Chile for 2 days in 2012 and knowing a bit about the history of the country, including Allende, Pinochet, and the more recent “turnstile jumping” riots that led to the cancellation of the UN Climate Change conference and the burning of a Walmart among other violence, I immediately found myself at home.

Chilenos are very warm people and, for the past 20 years or so, have been one of the darlings of the South American economy.

At the holiday party, I ended up having a very informative and enjoyable conversation with a senior attaché who, himself, was a former ambassador to Vietnam and Bolivia (from Chile).

This man had seen a lot and we talked about how the riots in Chile were supercharged by the fact that the protesters in Santiago were “knowledge sharing” (in both directions) with protesters in Hong Kong, Barcelona, and other places around the world. They were coordinating using social media tools and learning “best practices” via YouTube.

For Chile, which is somewhat geographically isolated from most of the continent thanks to the Andes Mountains, this type of external influence was particularly unique in its history. Today, however, they are in the throes of economic divide challenges that face many countries.

I also shared the “Crypto Bolivar” thesis with a few people. At the risk of starting political problems for anyone, let’s just say that a few of the staffers with whom I spoke thought that it had legs.

The Pain of Climate Change
All of that was even before I got to the art exhibit itself, which was traumatizing.

No matter where you stand on the issue, what I got out of the installation was that there are people out there who are feeling a lot of pain about what is happening to the climate and the environment.

The paintings of denuded forests, solitary polar bears, and melting ice caps told a story of people whose hearts are breaking and whose minds are anguished.

Even if we are collectively able to figure out a way to ameliorate or even roll back the effects, the psyche (and probably natural selection/evolution process as well) of an entire generation is being impacted in ways we cannot even foresee.

While the country couldn’t hold the conference, I thought the exhibit did an important service in the discussion about climate change.

On Serendipity
I didn’t plan to stop by the Chilean Embassy that day. If you had asked me that morning, I wouldn’t have been able to tell you where it was located. What’s more, I didn’t know the exact route that I planned to take on my walk through DC that day.

However, fate took me on that path and instead of “sticking to the schedule,” I let the opportunity and life happen to me.

What resulted was a mind expanding experience that reminded me that the world outside of the US is much larger than inside the US. It also opened my eyes to the pain and problems of people with whom I have no contact on a regular basis, yet we’re all interconnected.

I’ve noticed that, when these types of moments occur, I don’t usually regret seizing them.

I’m grateful that the Chileans let me in and are doing their part to share their story with the world.