Worlds apart

Excuse the hiatus, peeps. The little people get to do overtime at work ;) First of all, let me just say to some of the people who left comments on my last two post and the ones who emailed me in large part, I appreciate it. And that also goes for those who took the moral high ground with me. Do understand, however, that I am merely stating my opinion to which I'm sure as you'll agree, I'm entitled; same as you. I don't intend to compromise my principles by resortting to cheap shots in return so you can quit with the innuendoes and the name-calling. Lots of replies are still pending and I plan to get to that shortly just as soon as I find the time insha-allah so please be patient, dear friends and not-so-dear foes ;)

The reason I decided to call this post what I did was to highlight the forever increasing distance and the unsurmoutable bridge that lies between us and them. Not hinting at the PF song there, honestly. It just comes natural :) Last week, I took a walk down the corniche in Abu Dhabi when totally by happenstance I ran into two very old friends of mine from back in the day - oh, now I make it sound like I'm too old :)

Now I have known Saleh and Mubarak from my first three years of schooling in an Abu Dhabi government school. The last time I saw them was on my easter break from uni back in '99 and I must admit nothing had prepared me for the tremendous amount of change they have both collectively gone through over the years. And after a bit of chit chat, it made me feel exactly like that - worlds apart. I may not be the same person to them either and perhaps they say the same about me but they're entitled.

Their brand new direction, however, upsets me more than it amazes. Before meeting them I thought we were rowing the same boat even if we were a party of three out of over six billion. Still, it stood for something.

Racism would be a very subtle way to label what they felt toward anyone who didn't share their heritage and more importantly their nationality. On account of the latter pretty much all non-locals were out and the former left some soft spot for all arabs, whatever that means. So being the curious cat that I am, I asked them what it meant to be an arab and what about an arab made one superior. Needless to say, they went around in circles trying to break it down to me. Which reminds me of a certain blogger who I've been exchanging emails with back and forth for a while. Himself a non-arab, he claims the arabs can indeed claim to be the superior race on account of their history. I found it to be a rather funny argument to begin with and therefore did not think it wise to dignify it with a comment. So to all the arab and non-arab readers alike, please help me understand what makes the arab a superior human being because apparently I don't seem to get what it. I have yet to hear an argument that would win me over.

And then I have white friends. Previliged at best, all blame to our crooked as scoliosis society, I don't think their colonizing history makes them any better than mere animals. Or scratch that. Beasts would be the word of choice here. Animals only do as God intended them to. This race may not be colonizing by putting up their flags but they sure seem to be doing it politically, economically, socially, mentally and on and on. Since when is slavery back in fashion?

Oh and I got browns too. This particular brand of people play victim all too well but then the tyrans aren't exactly eagles either. Word of advice: get your bloody act together and stand up straight. For starters, you can break out of your cultural bonds that govern your lives and have you by the neck. My Pakistani friend is married to an African and never hears the end of it. Enough with your bigotry and hatred.

The orients. Well, I'll leave them be. And my African bros. It's for another day because that's a whole other post entirely.

I guess the point I'm trying to make by all of this is that though we may all collectively as a race be torn apart by oceans and deserts and politics and language and creed and color. But in essence we are one and it doesn't say much about us if we can't discipline ourselves like supposedly-inferior beings of the animal kingdom. A little kindness and tolerance can go a long way if we only tried. If each one of us after having left this seat went out with the intention to spread goodness, who says we can't bring the haters to their knees and shame them into crawling back inside the holes they've come out of.

Signing off now,
E - N&D

PS
Not getting PC here but just for the record I'm not against any form of culture as long as it isn't interfering with my religion. Oh, and at no time during the above post did I mean to generalize. Thought I'd save up some comment space and get it out of the way while I'm at it :)

PPS
In an earlier post I mentioned I'd be talking about the situation of prejudice between those of different ancestry but my research is still on-going and I'll publish it soon. And if you think I sounded bitter and cynical in this post, you should see me when I'm ill :) Nah, just disappointed. But then again...

... why all the fuss? It's only two humans being.