European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - April 19, 1992, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page words and wit gauging the level of crisis in engagement William Saf Ireon language gov. Bill Clinton searching for a new and different word to describe his foreign policy a not isolationist but not too interventionist a floated out Quot a new strategy for american  the Choice he told the foreign policy association was a whether we will engage or  eyebrows shot up at the heritage foundation a conservative think tank. Kim a Holmes its foreign policy chief had Only the week before circulated a speech entered on a selective engagement. A new global  and a month before that Secretary of state James a Baker Iii titled a portion of a speech a from containment to collective engagement the Early cold War strategy called containment of communism promulgated by George or x Kennan was to be replaced by a policy of collective engagement that Baker defined in a burst of turbidity As a nations taking concerted action to pursue common interests and solve common  the state department still uses the word policy at the White House and at think tanks that incubate future National Security advisers the Only word to use is strategy. Policy is Bookish strategy is fun where did the Baker state department get engagement from not from the Pentagon which considers an engagement a Battle and is not seeking to engage an enemy without at least a half million troops in place and the fervent support of the american people. No this noun comes from the frequently used verb engage As used by diplomats in a engage in a  that is steeped in the French Gage a Token or pledge Given to ensure performance and is the source of engagement ring. A a she a Lovely. She a engaged. She uses Pond so was the slogan Back when cleansing Cream was cold Cream. We used to wonder How Many of those models went ahead and got married the gauge gouge a a japanese Friend and i went to rent a car a writes Kevin p. Kearney of san Francisco. A we sat in the parking lot trying to decipher All the do hickeys and things kabobs on the Pontiac Bonneville. She pointed to the second of two words in a system Gagesr and asked a is that Correct a when did the variant spelling of gauges become acceptable it looks wrong no matter How Long i look at it a gauge is hard to spell. The temptation is to invert a couple of letters to make it come out Guage the last syllable in language or to simplify it a As did the makers of that new Pontiac a by spelling it the Way it is pronounced Gage. But that would be wrong As Richard Nixon used to say. Crisis crisis the use of the word crisis As an attributive noun should be noted. In the old Days crisis was the noun being modified As in cuban missile crisis. Now it is doing the modifying. Irene s. Pollin . That stands for master of social work spoke at a recent meeting of the Linda Pollin foundation in Bethesda md., discussing controversies about counselling the chronically ill. Her subject was the evolution of the curriculum in medical crisis counselling. Joseph j. Sisco is a Veteran Diplomat when i ran into him near the White House and asked what he was doing these Days he said he was in crisis assessment. This is political and economic risk analysis for companies thinking of doing business in hot spots. Vice president Quayle like president Bush before him is chairman of the crisis management team that assembles in the situation room on not so Dull Days. Why Isnit that basement room called the crisis Center because the White House does not want the Public to get excited every time it is put in use. Quot i done to think we met Down there during the cuban missile crisis a says Mcgeorge Bundy who was president Kennedy a National Security adviser in 1961, when the communications Center was named the situation room. He does not recollect who named it that nor does Ted Sorensen a Kennedy aide. The new York time sadness flickers upon hearing of Ashe and aids Tony Kornheiser i know in a supposed to be funny. But i done to feel funny today. Arthur Ashe is my hero. He a everything i would like to be. Nineteen years ago i wrote a Magazine piece about him which i recall now for two stupid mistakes. The lesser one was corrected quickly. Ashe was nearing 30, and i said head run out of time to win Wimbledon. Two years later he won it. The greater mistake was the presumptuous self righteous tone i took suggesting he Hadnot slowed enough Back into the Black Community. Like so Many Young White sportswriters coming out of the �?T60s, 1 was eager to prove my civil rights credentials by telling Black athletes the right Way to live. In a Wiser now. I understand i done to even know the right Way for me to live. Over the years i watched Ashe do More for Blacks and Whites than almost any athlete in history. He has been a consistent Model of integrity and purpose committed to raising the social and political standards of us All. I count Ashe As the smartest most admirable athlete in be known. Understand there is a difference Between a smart Quot and a smart for an  smart for an athlete refers to athletes who know that Hamlet Wasny to written for Mel Gibson Ashe is smart period a literate inquisitive cultured. I have interviewed hundreds of athletes sat with Many of them for hours at a time. They Are comfortable answering questions about themselves because they Are used to adulation. But they  care less about you or a i Youte asking these questions. They will talk to you about their Homes and never ask where you live. They will talk to you about their wives and children and never ask if you Are married. Arthur Ashe is the Only athlete in be Ever known who initiated a conversation with me that was t about him the Only athlete who wondered if i had read a certain Book or respected a certain candidate he a the Only one who Ever acknowledged there was a life other than his. I came to treasure our conversations irregular As they have been. I looked Forward to seeing Ashe at the . Open each summer. In recent years it pained me to see him so thin so easily fatigued. Knowing that he had twice undergone bypass surgery i assumed it was his heart although because of the Way he looked More than once i nervously asked people if he had aids. No one told me he did. If anyone had i doubt id have written it. Some stories you a rather get second. In a struck by the coincidence that the three most culturally important athletes of my lifetime a Jackie Robinson Muhammad a and Ashe a each suffered profound physical ailments at a relatively Young age. Robinson developed diabetes lost sight in one Eye and died of a heart attack at 53. Ali has Parkinson s syndrome and at 50 has slurred speech and walks slowly and cautiously. Ashe needed a bypass before he was 40.1 wonder if the Strain of being pioneers of having to stand so tall for so Long and for so Many people Hasni to taken a toll. Is there some doctor somewhere who is going to declare that Isnit possible i watched Ashe on to watched him Tell his terrible truth we did no to need to know that he had contracted aids from a blood transfusion he d received nine years ago a horrible random catastrophe. I watched his typically implacable composure even to the Point where feeling that he might falter when talking about his 5-year-old daughter he stepped Back and his wife read from the prepared statement and when Ashe resumed talking there Wasny to even a tremor in his voice. It was a performance of such stunning self control that it revealed a frightening Learned capacity to disengage his emotions a the result of All those years of being told you represent a Arthur Ashe at his aids announcement april 8, More than yourself Here you represent All right thinking people you cannot argue the Calls though  go against you you cannot shout against the prejudice though you la feel it you cannot succumb to the pressure though it will Bend you you must overcome it with your skill not your emotion and you have to be Strong As steel. I watched him gather himself for the storm that was not of his making. I cried for him knowing he would not cry for himself. There is an irony Here in that the reporter from Usa today who had to ask Ashe about aids was his longtime Friend a and mine a Doug Smith. I know How hard it was for Doug to Tell Arthur that his paper was working on this Story. I know Doug took that unhappy responsibility feeling that if questions had to be asked if there was no Way to Stop them they would be better coming from a Friend. I know the morning of the press conference the morning after he and Arthur stared into the cracked Mirror of life together and Arthur saw he had no Choice but to Tell All. And that Doug went to see Arthur in his apartment and that Arthur welcomed him As a dear Friend and offered him breakfast and asked about his children. Cretors  a sunday april 19, 1992