A Historian Makes No Mistakes
Truly, if we understand our past, we can improve our future. I was browsing the online news resources (while trying to filter through the bias) and I realized that upon understanding our past, we will be able to alleviate the sorrows of the future of the world. Less mistakes will be made and more people will be able to understand how the world works, thusly making their lives and their interaction with others more harmonious.
I've taken a liking to reading about Egyptian history, because I realized last semester that I know 100 times more about American history than about the history of my roots. I took a seminar about Islam and Christianity through the ages and when my professor talked about Egypt, he would ask me what I knew about a certain political figure or time period and I found that I knew absolutely nothing about my own country (and also I found out how it feels to be humiliated time after time after time). So, while my mother was in Egypt last month, I asked her to bring me an abreviated version of Egypt's modern history. It made sense to me that even if the book is in English, coming out of Egypt, it won't be as skewed as it would be here. So I was thinking today after having a conversation with a friend yesterday (Hi Stephanie!) after going out for some fabulous Thai food from Sawatdee in Uptown, that even if someone doesn't have the full history and background about something, they will still make judgements on them (as was the case with one of her classmates). So it led me to think about Israel and Palestine and the people I've met this semester who actually know about, more than the media tells them, more than what the government wants them to know about it. I've found that the only people who believe in Palestine's cause are the people who know the brutality that her people have face over the past 7 decades, and there aren't many of them. So, I'd like to say "kudos" to those people and I think they know who they are.
So, in the masses understanding the truth about Palestine from when it started, could hundreds of thousands of lives have been saved? Could peace and unity be spread throughout the Middle East, fulfilling Gamal AbdElNasser's dream of a united Arab state? If so, who would be the world power today --America, still? It's a little bold to say that the Arab world would be on top had Nasser's dream been fulfilled; but I know that the world would be a completely different place right now. If ignorance was erased and replaced with acceptance and appreciation for one another's differences and past mistakes, so many things would have been different throughout history, like slavery or the World Wars. Knowledge is such a powerful thing and if we all knew and understood the things happening in our world and the things that have happened before us, we can mold a future that isn't as depressing as, for instance, Malthus' musings about the destruction of human kind, but a one-nation world of togetherness, tranquility, and understanding.
I've taken a liking to reading about Egyptian history, because I realized last semester that I know 100 times more about American history than about the history of my roots. I took a seminar about Islam and Christianity through the ages and when my professor talked about Egypt, he would ask me what I knew about a certain political figure or time period and I found that I knew absolutely nothing about my own country (and also I found out how it feels to be humiliated time after time after time). So, while my mother was in Egypt last month, I asked her to bring me an abreviated version of Egypt's modern history. It made sense to me that even if the book is in English, coming out of Egypt, it won't be as skewed as it would be here. So I was thinking today after having a conversation with a friend yesterday (Hi Stephanie!) after going out for some fabulous Thai food from Sawatdee in Uptown, that even if someone doesn't have the full history and background about something, they will still make judgements on them (as was the case with one of her classmates). So it led me to think about Israel and Palestine and the people I've met this semester who actually know about, more than the media tells them, more than what the government wants them to know about it. I've found that the only people who believe in Palestine's cause are the people who know the brutality that her people have face over the past 7 decades, and there aren't many of them. So, I'd like to say "kudos" to those people and I think they know who they are.
So, in the masses understanding the truth about Palestine from when it started, could hundreds of thousands of lives have been saved? Could peace and unity be spread throughout the Middle East, fulfilling Gamal AbdElNasser's dream of a united Arab state? If so, who would be the world power today --America, still? It's a little bold to say that the Arab world would be on top had Nasser's dream been fulfilled; but I know that the world would be a completely different place right now. If ignorance was erased and replaced with acceptance and appreciation for one another's differences and past mistakes, so many things would have been different throughout history, like slavery or the World Wars. Knowledge is such a powerful thing and if we all knew and understood the things happening in our world and the things that have happened before us, we can mold a future that isn't as depressing as, for instance, Malthus' musings about the destruction of human kind, but a one-nation world of togetherness, tranquility, and understanding.
posted by Ayah @ 3:44 PM
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