Perspective

The only girl in our church, a teenager, just came back from her first trip to the United States. She was there for some kind of Christian Leadership conference with other kids her age. She went with a group of fellow Arabs from here in Israel and Jordan. She was SO excited today telling me all about her trip. The group went to Texas and saw all the important sites: the Alamo, the Riverwalk, the State Capitol, Six Flags, and Schlitterbahn. And they also went to Washington D.C. and saw all of the different monuments and highlights of our nation's capitol. But my favorite stories from her trip were about the reactions she got from the American kids her age.

Being a Christian Arab living in the West Bank of Jerusalem, Israel provided lots of fascination to these kids who had probably never left Texas. She was able to tell them about the hardships she faces here and hopefully give these kids a bigger appreciation for the freedoms they may take for granted. For instance, she was fascinated by the fact that she could sing hymns in the park with her friends... something she could never do here.

The funniest things to hear were the wrong ideas these kids had about what it means to live in the Middle East. She was asked several times HOW she got to school. "Do you ride a camel?", they would ask. And they were also amazed by how normal these Arab kids looked and acted. The Arab kids had to reassure the Americans that, NO, being Arab does not make you a terrorist.

But the misunderstandings weren't all on the part of the Americans. Having never been to the U.S. and knowing nothing about Texas apart from books and movies, my friend had plenty of her own wrong ideas. I had to laugh out loud when she told me, "They had CARS!! I thought they would all be on horses and be wearing cowboy hats."