An Unexpected Meeting

Israeli and Pakistani relations, what it’s like to party in the Middle East, and how America is playing a role in the war of people groups and how Allah will come down and set the Middle East then the World to order. The first conversation I ever had with my conversation with Tara Nour, was a insightful and terrifying experience to say the least. She was incredibly confident and a women that had seen a great deal of the world that I had never seen. She spoke with elegance for someone attempting to master a new language. Her stories and tales were brilliant, interesting, and a bit scary all wrapped into one. Tara told me of her homeland being completely separated from the majority of the luxuries that here in America are so taken for granted. She spoke with an incredible accent and one that made it seem that she was drenched in the culture of her homeland and had no desire to depart from her ways. Hesitant to talk, Tara moved through our conversation where she noticeably held back her true feelings or beliefs out of fear, privacy, or simply not knowing what she felt. But our conversation turned out to be anything but surface or reserved.

The conversation started as most awkward arranged meetings first begin. With a customary uncomfortable few minutes where the two people involved have no clue what the other thinks about the situation. The moments are then filled with questions that we people say and barely care enough to ask let alone listen. But after our perfunctory questions that dealt with majors, hers being mechanical engineering, hometown, Jerusalem, among other questions she read my face perfectly and proposed a conversation I was so curious about but could not bring myself to question. She said, “Austin the Jews and Arabs still hate one another and that is all this war is about, it is about more than 1,000 years of hating one another.” So taken back I barely mumbled, “Tara we in no way have to talk about this, I understand living in it and seeing it from my view are two very different things.” She was far more in tune with own thoughts and knew the curiosity that had building in my head. We then jumped head first into something that was more than a conversation or required meet and greet. It was a time of Eastern ancient culture educating the Western ignorance. Religion dictating wars, passions deciding foreign policy, life being lived on a set of codes and ethics. Throw in a generation of young people who largely feel that this war is their fathers war, not their own. They feel as though they must inherit the hate or be outcast of a society that is the only one they know. Tara though embodied a different attitude. She showed a belief that was similar to that of her fellow countrymen but was unwilling to say she agreed with the war. She was learning that the war was not her best option. A fact all mankind will hopefully learn at some point. That through understanding others, we can avoid the mistakes of our forefathers, but only through understanding. 

What to learn on Thanksgiving

Fifty-one years is a huge span of time in which so many parts of society can change and is nearly unfathomable for a nineteen year old college student. But November 21^st, 1960 is just that, a date so far removed from the minds of most American that it seems rather inconsequential. It is though three days before Thanksgiving, its a few days after John F. Kennedy won the Presidential Election, the Cold War is brewing in Europe and there are numerous other important parts to this day. In this edition of Time magazine there are so many interesting, shocking, and applicable things to see about this one date in history. It was the letters to the editor, the scathing advertisements, and the election of John F. Kennedy. But the saddest part of it all is that Time seems to have forgotten Thanksgiving.

            Sir seems to be a word that has either fallen completely from the English language or is so passed over now that it is said without even thinking about it. It is that statement that initially caused me to notice the letters to the editor section at the beginning of the periodical. The idea that these people, not professionals or media members but just average Americans, had the decency to give the respect that may not be earned but is deserved. Respect that every person is due regardless of what they may say or do. That is not the only I realized was different from today’s conversation. In two particular letters to the editor the words, “insidious, liberalism, labyrinth, aneosis,” are all used in some form and fashion in a span of about 150 words. If people used those kinds of words today it would be confined to a research paper and that is about it. But again what is so fascinating was that it was a letter to the editor, a letter from a reader. Who was so compelled to write about their feelings in a controlled and intelligent way rather than having their emotions dictate for them and ending up with a rant than a real thought. It was not only the readers of Time who truly thought out every word. The advertisements also included a lot of well thought out if not insulting ads to run and may have been in this day a great way to sell a product.

            The advertisement has changed since 1960 in one huge way that may not be discussed due to its national embarrassment. The fact of the matter is that women were not viewed as equals as was made evident in one advertisement in particular. There is a picture of a women with a before and after picture of a nose straightening and raising. She is quite pretty and yet in the second picture one of the captions reads “straighten it up because you can, men don’t you just wish…” and it goes on to encourage men and women for this procedure. As if women were nothing but a sort of asset for men that can be modified on command. Beyond that there is another ad that reads “How a boner helped me earn $15, 000,” and it tells a story of a man who was introduced to Wall Street Journal under less than favorable circumstances and eventually makes a great sum of money based on the information he gathers from magazine. The lack of tact in the ad is not only disturbing but also sad. Remember this was published 3 days before thanksgiving and it is found right next to an ad for children’s health information. The plight of human decency in this issue was appalling, disheartening, yet hopeful. The idea that as a society we have come so far in fifty-one years and in today’s world the fact that this would be unacceptable to be printed in any form or fashion is comforting to me. A man instrumental to societal change was the new President elects John F. Kennedy. Time ran a overview of the election and the impending future for Kennedy. But yet there is something else missing, there are no ads talking about Thanksgiving.

            President Kennedy in this issue of Time is broken down, measured, evaluated, and then some. He is laid out in front of the American people so they may know their President on a better level. He was really an unknown in the election and stole the national spotlight as the campaign continued until winning it and becoming the leader of the free world. The part that caught my eye though was the fact that the entire world was concerned with the fact that Kennedy was a Roman Catholic. His religion was such a point of contention for the world at that time as they were fearful that he would be taking his orders from the Pope and leading the nation to a religious movement ostracizing the Protestant community. There was a cornucopia of letters written to the news outlets expressing these exact thoughts. The fact that any man be judged on the personal faith he carries is still ridiculous to me. If a man’s policies are not affected by his faith in a negative way then why should that be any basis for a judgment call? In reality this whole issue for me was a time to reflect on my life and opinions. I realized something that I often times took for granted was in fact so crucial.

            For people to come together as a family or even a group of friends and sit around a table and have meaningful conversation can be more valuable than money. The fact of the matter is that the decaying art of articulation, the equality of people, and the religious tolerance and acceptance can be fixed in experiences and dialogue. A way to have these conversations, a family gathering like Thanksgiving. It truly was surprising to see the lack of ads, articles, even blurbs about the family holiday. If this had been stressed and occurred without the sense of obligation and could be used as an outlet for these crucial discussions it could provide and initiation so much thought. It took fifty-one years to have this growth that we enjoy today, what if these conversations had happened earlier though, where could we be today? Life is full of decisions and although strides were made, humanity as only begun to develop and is on the verge of true greatness. All it takes is a conversation.