all for the cause

Apparently, according to this pretty good article a former student of mine wrote for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Turkmenistan's president won the largest payout in horse race history. $11 million--not bad for a non-day job. And his tumble at the finish line of course doesn't diminish the fact that he won. No, it underscores the sacrifice he had in mind anyway. $11 million for just a very talented president? Pshaw, that money logically goes to the nation he serves, or 'presides' over, or dictates terms to, or, or, well--at least the day wasn't marked in horseshit.

For the record, I immensely enjoyed my 2+ years in this country and appreciate some attempts at their progress. JFK's mandate was that Peace Corps would provide relational humanitarian aid, an opportunity to extend a representational (hopefully positive) view of Americans, an opportunity for America to receive a representational (hopefully positive) view of a host country to PC Volunteers. Fully into its sixth decade of actualization, I think about this mission statement more than most (and the past fifteen years has offered an avalanche of mission statements). Fortuitously, Turkmenistan has remained 'real' to me in students that pass through the international school system; I sometimes lament that they know their country less well than I, or that an article like this supplies caricature more than cultural consciousness. Then I think, well, at least we're thinking about it...

Here's the RFE/RL article again, assuming the imbedded link didn't work (as I learned in Turkmenistan;) 

http://www.rferl.org/content/turkmenistan-berdymukhammedov-horse-fall/24972976.html