A guy covered in tatoos from head to toe...

My front desk job can often get dull and redundant. Having the opportunity to meet individuals like I did today makes me forget about the redundancy and reminds me how much we as individuals can learn from one another (and it reminds me that my job isn’t so bad:). Everybody has their own story to tell. The guy walking down the street with a long beard, back pack and shopping cart has as story to tell. The guy in front of you at the concert with piercings and tattoos covering his body from head to toe has a story to tell. The stay at home mom who does laundry, cleans up after her kids and cooks dinner everyday has a story to tell. Okay, so you get the point…every individual no matter who they are or what they look like has had life experiences that we can learn and be enriched from. So why don’t we as humans get to know one another on more personal levels?…yes, even if that means starting up a conversation with the person in line next to you at the grocery story. I need to do this more often, because every time I do I learn something new. Wow…I just went off on a tangent. Anyways, the guy that I met at work today is serving as a fire marshal-tied with the military. He has been based in many Middle Eastern countries such as Iran and Kuwait. As our conversation progressed he told me that he hoped that I was grateful to live in the United States. I told him that I am so grateful that I don’t have to live in complete and never-ending fear, like many do in other parts of the world. He went on to tell me that fear is a part of women’s everyday lives in some Middle Eastern countries. Two things he told me….#1 When a women disappoints a man, the man rapes her and then takes her into the middle of the desert and drops her off. #2 When a wife disappoints a husband he can declare divorce right on the spot and at the instant she has to leave the house and can only take what is on her back. This is why many Muslim women will wear gold chains underneath their clothing. When I heard these two things it made me sick. I know that text books teach us not to be ethnocentric (thinking that your cultures way of doing something is better than another’s, but I would have to say that I am 100% ethnocentric when it comes to this. I can’t think of any context or situation that would make it okay for one person to rape another and then drop them off in the middle of a desert. After hearing about this I am even more grateful to be living where I do! I have so many freedoms and liberties that allow me to live my life the way I choose. I can worship how I want, I can go to school, and yes…I can even tell Steve how I feel (and he doesn’t declare a divorce!). I am happy that I took the time to talk to a stranger today!