In Their Shoes

I don't know how I would react to being put in their shoes but I do know that I wouldn't be happy. Having grown up in the U.S. makes it difficult to relate to people who started off with very little freedoms. I believe; however, that due to little freedoms in the beginning it would make it very upsetting to have those freedoms restricted even further. I would definitely feel the urge to rebel if in this situation because I would know what it felt like to have at least some freedom. Like the saying goes, "You can't miss what you've never had." I feel like my opinions as a youth in Iran after the revolution would be that we, Iran, should become more Westernized. I would feel that it's not impossible to embrace both Western ideals of freedom and that of my religion because we then could have our freedoms but adapt to our lives.

My Definition of the Middle East

I don't know where to start when it comes to defining a region. Do I start with what I think about the people? The culture? The terrorist organizations? The geography and climate? How does one go about defining such a region, especially being uneducated about it? Well, I will give it a shot, but bear with me!

When I think of the Middle East the first thing that comes to mind is oppression of women and lack of acknowledgement of women's rights; however, even from reading the prologue of Children of Jihad my opinion on that has drastically been swayed. Another thing I think of is hot and arid climate. I am also reminded of religion, especially the large clashing of religions in Israel. And of course, let's not forget terrorists, which I sadly do associate with the Middle East. Being a citizen of the U.S. has made this one thing that I will probably always associate the Middle East with as well as constant war.

So, overall, my definition of the Middle East is (was) a hot and arid region where women are oppressed and have limited freedoms; lots of war/clashing over religion, weapons or whatever it be; infusion of cultures; and terrorists.