Just thinking

I haven’t blogged much lately, mostly because I can’t quite get my head around what it means to blog, and I don’t really know what I want to say on my blog. I put a lot of pressure on myself to only blog when I have things figured out. Right now, I don’t have much figured out and have way more questions than answers. So, I haven’t really known how to even post about my questions, but because I’m procrastinating on other things, I’m going to make an attempt to share about something that's been on my mind…

I recently read the book The Reluctant Fundamentalist. It’s a quick, engaging read, and I wish that our book club here had lasted because I would love to discuss this book in a group context. The entire book is a conversation between an American and a Pakistani man at café in Pakistan. The Pakistani man is Princeton educated and once held an impressive job at a company in New York. After 9/11, he begins to wrestle with his views of the U.S. and to oversimplify the story, eventually returns to Pakistan. The book challenged my views of the U.S. and made me consider how my perspective on people of Middle Eastern descent has been affected by our post 9/11 world.

A couple of months ago, I had a flat tire at Starbucks. I attempted to change the tire myself, but the lug nuts or whatever they’re called wouldn’t budge. Multiple people came and went in the parking lot without offering help. Eventually, a well dressed man stopped to offer help. About 30 minutes and LOTS of sweat later, I had my spare tire on my car. The man was Middle Eastern and Muslim. I was so grateful for his willingness to get dirty, greasy, and sweaty, but I also couldn’t help realize that outside of the context of my flat tire I probably would have encountered him in an entirely different manner. I know I would have been fearful of him. I know I would have been hesitant to really look him in the eye.

Add to my recent reading and flat tire challenges, the discovery that the dad of a couple of the girls I tutor has been picked up by immigration. He is from a Middle Eastern country and has overstayed his visa. I interact with a number of kids whose families are in the country illegally, and they live in ongoing fear of being deported. However, I find it very interesting that none of the other families have had any major issues with immigration. Instead, it’s the Arabic man who is picked up. It makes me mad. Really mad.

All of the kids in the family were born in the U.S. and are U.S. citizens. One of the girls has health issues, juvenile diabetes, and her health is the primary reason the family has remained in the U.S. Her sisters spent the last few years living in their parent’s home country, but H and her dad have stayed in the U.S. in an attempt to address some of the challenges of her diabetes. Now, it appears that the entire family will be leaving the U.S. H doesn’t want to leave. She’s never lived any place but the U.S. and while she’s lived a very sheltered life here in the States, she knows that the culture in her parent’s home is very different from what she’s known.

I don’t know all the ins and outs of the immigration system here, but I’m mad that a girl I know and love in all likelihood has to leave the U.S. I’m mad that our immigration system could adversely affect H’s health care needs. I’m mad that Middle Eastern people are so clearly targeted and monitored by our government. I’m mad that the freakin U.S. Congress can’t address our obviously broken immigration system. I’m mad that some elected officials would rather see the entire effort fail than find some sort of much needed compromise.

In the midst of my frustration, I’ve been thinking about a quote from Martin Luther King. It’s applicable to my questions about what it means to be of Middle Eastern descent in the world today. MLK said,

“Men often hate each other because they fear each other; they fear each other because they don't know each other; they don't know each other because they can not communicate; they can not communicate because they are separated.”

I can’t help but think that real encounters and friendships are going to be the only things that calm my fears, that open my eyes, and by the grace of God, enable me to love my neighbors. May we be people who seek those types of encounters and friendships.