I will talk about my trip in the next blog. I want to go ahead and apologize if I offend anyone in this blog, but I think that what I am about to say is something that needs to be said.
During my extended break I had some time to go to Yerevan. Dave, who is an A-14, came back to visit Armenia for the first time in 18 months. I went out with him in Yerevan and he introduced me to some of his friends. His friends were Iranian. They are studying various things in Armenia. Honestly, that was one of the best nights I have ever had. As with normal occurrences, the night starts out slow. Well we had a great time. We talked about random things. Then Dave wanted to meet with some of his other friends and I was just going to go home, but my new friends asked me to go back to their house. We just went back and talked for hours. I ended up just staying there the night. We stayed up talking till 6:30 in the morning. We talked about many things. I feel like my eyes were opened. Media in the states does a great job shrouding our eyes with what it wants us to see. It was funny because one of my new friends asked me “I bet you though we lived in the desert and rode around on camels”. Well yeah. In my own ignorance, what he said was not too far from what he said. But if you will take five minutes and google Tehran or another Iranian city you will find that their cities are beautiful. Just plain beautiful. There is no better word than to explain in that way. I guess the funniest part was sitting down and talking to them for all that time and finding out how many things in common we had. They didn’t agree with everything that their government did just like we don’t either. We talked about music, we talked about films, we talked about everything.
I feel like in America we all live in our own little worlds and chose to see what we want to see. Same thing goes with Muslims. The odd thing is, as Christians we think that that is the one and only way to believe in a faith, or in God. (Mom, I know you are probably getting angry with what Im writing, but this is just the way it is). I know there are different levels of faith. There are passive people, extremists, and people who just blindly follow the light. Just like Christians try to justify the crusades, there are extremists in the Muslim world and it doesn’t mean that they are all going to be terrorists. Just recently from my travels, I went to some Muslim countries. It was just an eye opener. I know a lot of people that say that they are Christian and then that is where it stops. I will go ahead and say that Im not too far from that. I haven’t been to church in a long time. I think the last time I went regularly was when I was dating Laura Helen... two years ago. Anyway, being in Dubai and India, I would hear calls to worship and people would actually find a prayer room to pray. In airports, and other public places, there would also be prayer rooms for their faith. All of my Muslim friends don’t drink. They fast during Ramadan. I don’t remember the last time I fasted for a month, or even a day...
Im not trying to promote the Muslim religion or degrade the Christian Religion. Its just recently, I have realized that from ignorance comes fear. I was fortunate to have two of my close friends who were Muslim. It allowed me to learn something. I know you may think that my cheese has slid off my cracker, but like I said, I hope you take a moment to do a little research for yourself about Iran, the middle east, and the Muslim religion. Now onto the travels...
Until next time...
During my extended break I had some time to go to Yerevan. Dave, who is an A-14, came back to visit Armenia for the first time in 18 months. I went out with him in Yerevan and he introduced me to some of his friends. His friends were Iranian. They are studying various things in Armenia. Honestly, that was one of the best nights I have ever had. As with normal occurrences, the night starts out slow. Well we had a great time. We talked about random things. Then Dave wanted to meet with some of his other friends and I was just going to go home, but my new friends asked me to go back to their house. We just went back and talked for hours. I ended up just staying there the night. We stayed up talking till 6:30 in the morning. We talked about many things. I feel like my eyes were opened. Media in the states does a great job shrouding our eyes with what it wants us to see. It was funny because one of my new friends asked me “I bet you though we lived in the desert and rode around on camels”. Well yeah. In my own ignorance, what he said was not too far from what he said. But if you will take five minutes and google Tehran or another Iranian city you will find that their cities are beautiful. Just plain beautiful. There is no better word than to explain in that way. I guess the funniest part was sitting down and talking to them for all that time and finding out how many things in common we had. They didn’t agree with everything that their government did just like we don’t either. We talked about music, we talked about films, we talked about everything.
I feel like in America we all live in our own little worlds and chose to see what we want to see. Same thing goes with Muslims. The odd thing is, as Christians we think that that is the one and only way to believe in a faith, or in God. (Mom, I know you are probably getting angry with what Im writing, but this is just the way it is). I know there are different levels of faith. There are passive people, extremists, and people who just blindly follow the light. Just like Christians try to justify the crusades, there are extremists in the Muslim world and it doesn’t mean that they are all going to be terrorists. Just recently from my travels, I went to some Muslim countries. It was just an eye opener. I know a lot of people that say that they are Christian and then that is where it stops. I will go ahead and say that Im not too far from that. I haven’t been to church in a long time. I think the last time I went regularly was when I was dating Laura Helen... two years ago. Anyway, being in Dubai and India, I would hear calls to worship and people would actually find a prayer room to pray. In airports, and other public places, there would also be prayer rooms for their faith. All of my Muslim friends don’t drink. They fast during Ramadan. I don’t remember the last time I fasted for a month, or even a day...
Im not trying to promote the Muslim religion or degrade the Christian Religion. Its just recently, I have realized that from ignorance comes fear. I was fortunate to have two of my close friends who were Muslim. It allowed me to learn something. I know you may think that my cheese has slid off my cracker, but like I said, I hope you take a moment to do a little research for yourself about Iran, the middle east, and the Muslim religion. Now onto the travels...
Until next time...
i'm not gonna comment on your post because i think we've talked about it enough.
ReplyDeletebesides that Albert Camus says "being in attention is a great thing even if you're sitting on the accusing bench."
(not sure if it makes sense or not, just a self-translation.)
Danny,
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading this post! I hope you are doing well, and that the experiences you are having continue to illuminate your thinking. It's awesome that you are having that kind of experience!
Take care, and holler sometime!
Homer