الثقافة Culture

Malaysian girl touring the Roman Ruins

I went to a job interview last month and once I finished I went to the corner restaurant for lunch before I had to go to work.  As I set and waited for whatever it was that I had ordered without knowing, I watched as students walked home from school.  There were so many girls who were dressed in a hunter green, white, and beige uniform.  They were all just chattering with their girlfriends and regardless of their matching hijabs, all their personalities came through clearly.  There were shy girls and outspoken girls, fun girls and scared girls.  Their personalities reminded me of home and how all of my friend and I acted back in school.  But as I thought about my history and their current situation, I thought about how these girls have no idea of a world beyond their own.  All they have ever know are wrapped women and a lack of interaction with boys, and all we knew was that everyone was allowed to be our friend, including the boys if we ever gave the gross boys a chance, and that our hair should be fixed neatly in a ponytail everyday.

I went to class that day and vented at my class of young men.  Honestly, only one boy in the class could understand me, but I still wanted my thoughts to be heard.  He is planning to go to Malaysia to study Telecommunications or something like that.  Another in the classes is planning to go to Australia to study nursing, and the last wants to just stay in Jordan and get married soon.  The last one got the most rant from me but I told them all that we need to experience other cultures so that we can grow as people.

Adam Awwami-  Saudi in USA

Studying other cultures isn't just about learning how to manage others to make profit.  If that were the case, then yes, why would the majority every consider learning about others?  We need to learn about other cultures because it teaches us how to be a better person.  Ever culture has something to teach us.  As Adam Awwami says, "We take the best of both cultures."  We can take the good of both and grow from them, then leave the bad behind.  The more we learn and experience the better we will become.  Some of the wisest people in the world are the most cultured.

International Fulbrights at a Native American performance

So often I get frustrated at my own community for not acknowledging a world beyond their own, but it's not just Americans who do that.  People all over the world choose to stay where they are most comfortable and simply stare at and judge other cultures.  I feel like at some point we decide to stop learning and to stop growing.  We decided that where we are is where we should always be, and that there is no need for any change.  I protest this type of thinking.  We as humans should always be growing and evolving for the better.  The world has so much to teach us and it is yelling out at us everyday as we turn on the news.  The world as a whole has so much growth to make and through cultural exchange I believe it will grow.

This is why I study culture and religion.  This is why I think that we need know other cultures beyond our own.  

Learning about other cultures will help us grow as a person and as a community.