“Do you like Bush?”
“No.”
“Good, you are ALWAYS welcome in our home.”
That may be a common political question for people to ask, but it was much more powerful coming from an Iraqi family who lost everything in the past few years. The war has turned this once affluent family into refuges in Syria where they have lived for the past three years. Their family home in Bagdad has been flattened from bombings, countless relatives displaced, and many others have been killed.
Despite all of the horrors they have witnessed, they still warmly welcome us to their home. I don’t know what the situation would be if the roles were reversed, I do not know if it would be the same. If I had to leave my country, all my friends, school, work, etc. To have had my home destroyed, family killed, to have lived in fear and to them invite the people from the country that perpetrated these offences into my home for dinner. I would hope that I would, I would hope that we as Americans would. But I honestly couldn’t say.
Now having spent time here, I am ashamed to think of the stereotypes of the Middle East. People have been very concerned for our safety here. Children run free on the street playing, elderly aren’t just helped across the street but nearly carried, and we have peace blessed upon us countless times a day. Ironically, the greeting in Arabic is Salaam alaykum, Peace be with you. Many women here do dress in hijab but it is not required, they do so willingly. Woman may cover themselves in public but it doesn’t mean that they are ultra conservative or suppressed. Teenage girls still hang posters of musicians on their walls and lingerie stores still do business.
During the past few years, American media has been drawing a lot of attention to Islam, the injustices to woman, extremist mentalities, and the rigid religious practices. While these may be horrible truths in some places, it does not represent the religion or region as a whole. I have been humbled by the inaccuracies of my own pre-conceived notions of what the Middle East is and am very pleased that they have been shattered.
