We are all imperfect!

I got an interesting email this morning from a guy named Youssef asking me an intriguing question that I know as an Arab I have suffered from in the past, and many people from distinct cultures do as well.

Youssef said,

Hello, Mona, my name is Youssef, 20 years of age. I am from Iraq and living in London, England for about 10 years now. I really enjoy your blog and find it quite refreshing, because you stand for something! Anyway coming to the point of pride. I find it hard to tell people I am from the middle east, whichever country it may be. Everything that you say is really dear to me because I relate to it so well. Especially things like family life! Anyway when people ask me where I am from I get a sense of awkwardness… I dunno why, I am sometimes ashamed of how PEOPLE from my culture are but I also know we have great traditions! The dialogue would go something like this: “Oh a where are you form?” – “I’m from Iraq” – “Ohhh”……s..i…l…e..n..c..e What should I do, especially after all this terrorism media coverage I feel so self conscious about where I come from.. Mona you seem to have quite a toughness when it comes to this subject… please teach me some tools to help me relax about where I come from. Thanks for your time!

Overcome your fear

I remember it like it was yesterday. I was in high school in the US, and I lived in city and state that had an Arab population that you can count on your hands and toes. I was the minority, and I lived in an area where racism was normal, and they didn’t fear strangers, they just didn’t like them. Try to grow up in such an environment? In the critical years of your life? Most of the time I ignored racist comments and just kept building it up in my heart for years and years till I came to Canada.

I never understood why people were racist against my skin colour or name or where I was from. Why did it matter? God put us all on this earth to live together. God created us equals, but why are we forced to live inferior to others? When we die, won’t we all be judged the same? That’s what I didn’t understand. So I just learned to have stronger faith in God then to worry how “other” human beings perceived me.

Represent your self

I am who I am; I am Mona. That’s what I keep telling people. If they ask me where I am from; I say I am an Arab who happens to be of Palestenian origin. I am from the middle east. Look at me, like my tan? I cannot deny who I am, so why hide it? Why fear it? Why are you ashamed to tell non-Arabs of where you are from? Who cares. What are they going to do? Judge you? Decide if you are going to heaven or hell? No. So why can’t you be your self? You are your self all the time in front of God, so why do you fear his creation?

Take some pride of your culture

No one’s culture is perfect. No one’s at all! I talk about it and I complain about certain things that piss me off. However, I only say such things because I have lived here for too long, and I want people from my culture to keep their tradition but be a bit open minded about the world around them. Life is not black and white in this world. We have to accept change, accept one another, and accept the culture we inevitably live in. No culture is perfect, but no need to be ashamed of it all the time.

No one’s history is perfect, but strive to make it better

I am a history freak. I read a lot of history. I read a lot about religion too. I read a lot! How about that? History is quite intriguing, because it shows you how savage, stupid, pathetic, power driven, and land obsessed humans are. They were all stupid. No civilization or country till this minute of time has ever had an amazing history to be proud of. They are all imperfects! So why do you care how the media represents a certain group? Media is biased and have to speak in terms of their country and politics and not based on facts and what history will write down. So instead of hiding who you are and fearing what the media says, strive to make it better. Try to represent who you are in a positive manner so everyone’s opinion will change. Who will people believe? Mass biased media with no physical proof that you can hold and see with your own eyes, or regular average people who positively represent who they are culturally, and religiously?

We are not terrorists!

Man… If I hear or read this crap about Arabs being terrorist then hell with people. I am sick of it. Why are we terrorists? I never understood that. If we were, why bomb Afghanistan first and stay there killing people, and then bombing Iraq and staying there trying to shape up the government and instill fear in people? Who are the terrorists? Who is actually occupying the land and bringing constant fear to the people? I think people are blind and have no clue who is what. Media is powerful, but it is only powerful to foolish people who believe it. Others, with a bit of intellect and some knowledge of history and a good perception of the world will never fall for such media hypocrisy.

Thank God that he made humans smarter than an ape. However, it is too bad that many people have a brain of an ape.

Advice, Random Thoughts, They said what?