I posted this elsewhere a couple of weeks ago, but thought I'd post it here now because it seems pertinent to all the stuff being discussed around here.. Go beneath the orange squiggly if you're curious.
ME:
My daughter is in Oman right now. She is learning how the people who live there observe Ramadan. The last I heard, she doesn’t have to wear a burkha, but she does have to have every bit of her body except for her eyes covered when she goes outside. She also cannot go outside if not accompanied by a male.
My daughter is there by choice. She was 9 when 9/11 went down, and her only sibling was 11. I think that made a difference in her thinking. On 9/11, I left work early to pick both my kids up from school. I wondered how the event had been presented to them. It hadn’t, thank GOD (however you define or deny her)!
My kids grew up from that point on watching their mom have to leave the house earlier and earlier to catch a plane for reasons of “homeland security”. My daughter got randomly searched on our first vacation after 9/11… she was terrified and I was PISSED. I made no secret of my opinion that the increased security would cause WAY more people to die of heart attacks than it would ever save from death by terrorism. I stand by that opinion.
Flash forward to now. My daughter , the one in Oman who is quickly becoming fluent in Arabic, spent last summer building a house on the West Bank for a Palestinian family whose home had been bulldozed by the Israeli government. She was welcomed and cherished. I spent 10 days with her in Turkey a few months ago where the overwhelmingly Muslim population treated us with more hospitality than even the finest of the United States’ Deep Southerners who are our ancestors.
I call bullshit on the “terror shutdown” especially since our president has said something to the effect of…
“Yeah, we’re shutting down the embassies, but don’t cancel your travel plans.”
Heh… and if you don’t have travel plans, just go shopping, right?
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MY DAUGHTER:
Hi mom!
I know its been a while since we talked, not since I got to Oman actually i think, so I just wanted to get my voice in! Im no expert by any means, so these are all just opinions of someone not qualified to really give them, but there are so many misconceptions about the arab world, especially the Gulf, so id be remiss not to give it a shot. so yeah!
First, I don't have to have to cover nearly as much as you might think especially for being in the Gulf during Ramadan. I've only worn a head scarf outside of the house a few times and usually with a tee shirt and capris. And we can go out without a male. My other 20 year old american female friend who Im here with and I took a 3 day trip across the country hijab/burqa/abiya/niqab free to Salalah alone on a bus no problem. Although, admittedly we don't really get out much during the day. its so hot here! and nothing is going on while people are fasting. but at night, when people aren't fasting, I dont cover my hair at all when we go out.
Don't get me wrong. I'd be the first to say that women's rights are a huge issue relevant to the middle east. But i think being too quick (especially as non-muslim westerners) to throw around the burqa thing can muddle where the real issues lie. Which is: increasing opportunities for social and economic autonomy, and equality under the law, in educational opportunities, in our pay checks, in our homes, and in the eyes of our fellow humans. which are the same things women are still working for in the US. if we can attain those things globally who cares if the burqa comes off or not. because at that point it will truly be a choice. and we're all pro-choice here right? #liberaljokes
Also, just wanted to throw in my two sense on the security. While some of the measures are surely goony, the truth is there are a lot of people out there (particularly around here) that are not big fans of America. (That is not to say Americans. I have never been treated as well as I have in the arab world.) Overplayed, fear mongering, and far to unquestioned as a justitification yes. But, that is also not to say that security isnt a real issue. There are a lot of people that want to see the American government lose its footing. And that is because of all the people America is droning, and oppressing, and torturing, and marginalizing, and shutting down the voices of particularly here in this part of the world. I think to say that there is not security threat is to downplay the amount of messed up things that US foreign policy has brought to this part of the world. Things that that have, understandably, pissed a lot of people off. and in way, its to let America off the hook.
In my unsolicited, undereducated, idealistic 20 year old opinion the best security policy America could adopt would be as gracefully as possible to try to stop killing people and uprooting countries in the name of "democracy." and you know, cut the bullshit all around. (like, as you mentioned, closing the embassies in what seems to me a ben gazi/snowden/Sept 11th anniversary cocktail response)
Unfortunately we've dug ourselves into a pretty impressive hole with a lot of angry folks (the kind that actually do bomb embassies and hijack planes... and lots of others too) looking in making it pretty tough to climb out. and until we do, as someone who is going to be spending 24 of the next 48 hours flying home after spending a beautiful relaxing ramadan with a hilarious and huge hearted family in the Eastern most Middle East... though I have a huge problem with the fundamentally problematic basic reasons for needing the security in the first place, I dont hate that its there. except the freaking liquid thing. because apparently peanut butter counts as a liquid these days... killin me.
As for the arabic! haha Its a lot harder than spanish for sure, so fluency is a longggg way off. Im still working on the whole pleasentaries thing so dont give me too much credit. And maybe somewhere 9/11 started a subconscious desire to study the language somewhere in my 9 year old brain... but studying arabic is so much more than that to me. Its a beautiful language, an artistic script, a culture, a way of life, and in its dialects just as varied as the arab world itself. 9/11 was a huge definer of all of the generations it touched and a true tragedy. But, it makes me sad that for so many Americans it is there only association with the word Arab or Muslim. Well, that and burqas. There is so much more, both good and bad, to this region and this religion, enough that its managed to capture a lot my academic attention, linguistic interest, mental and emotional energy and most recently physical presence these past few years.
whichhhhh clearly is whats motivated me to write this awkwardly too long for facebook response. In classic Mary style. haha. Just wanted to get my actual voice out there. I figure I should try to use the little bit of this perspective Ive been so amazingly fortunate to stumble into.