Obama's call for a new beginning

I stayed up late Wednesday night to listen to Obama address the Muslim world live from Cairo University. I was impressed by his optimism and his faith in peace and new beginnings. While he did not fail to acknowledge the tension, fear, and mistrust that exists between Western and Muslim cultures, he focused primarily on his call for us to recognize and acknowledge our common values. He asserted that:

So long as our relationship is defined by our differences, we will empower
those who sow hatred rather than peace, and who promote conflict rather than the
cooperation that can help all of our people achieve justice and prosperity. This
cycle of suspicion and discord must end.

I have come here to seek a new beginning between the United States and
Muslims around the world; one based upon mutual interest and mutual respect; and
one based upon the truth that America and Islam are not exclusive, and need not
be in competition. Instead, they overlap, and share common principles -
principles of justice and progress; tolerance and the dignity of all human
beings.

Finally, an American leader seeks mutual respect and understanding between Muslims and the United States. I’ve grown weary of hearing Americans say that the United States is a Judeo-Christian culture. Not because I have a problem with our Judeo or Christian roots, but because ours is a culture that should embrace and respect more than just two religions. We tolerate other faiths, but can we acknowledge and respect other beliefs and cultures? What about Atheists, Agnostics, Buddhists, Hindus, Sikhs and yes, Muslims. What about the many of us who are spiritual and believe in God even though we don’t subscribe to a particular faith? And that’s just to name a few. The voices of those who desire mutual respect and understanding between the United States and Muslims around the world are being drowned out by the loud voices that keep insisting that the United States is a Judeo-Christian culture, and therefore, by implication, incongruous with Islamic culture. Even well-educated and so-called spiritual or religious Americans embarrass the rest of us by failing to recognize the difference between Islam and terrorism. They continually point to the horrendous acts and loud voices of terrorists and speak nothing of all the kind, peaceful, and humble spiritual Muslims that exist all over the world and in our own country.

Maybe it’s time we seek to genuinely understand one another so that we can finally release our deep-seated fears based on our stereotypes and ignorance of one another. Maybe we can finally go beyond “tolerating” one another and begin to truly appreciate and respect one another. Only then can we begin to hope for a United States that is not just diverse, but is also compassionate and peaceful, one that seeks to honor and respect rather than marginalize those Americans whose voices often go unheard.

Those were Obama’s intentions when he said:

We have the power to make the world we seek, but only if we have the courage to
make a new beginning, keeping in mind what has been written. The Holy Koran
tells us, "O mankind! We have created you male and a female; and we have made
you into nations and tribes so that you may know one another." The Talmud tells
us: "The whole of the Torah is for the purpose of promoting peace." The Holy
Bible tells us, "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of
God." The people of the world can live together in peace. We know that is God's
vision. Now, that must be our work here on Earth.

Nitocrisse Hotel

Only after traipsing around at night on the streets of downtown Cairo with luggage in tow, after arriving by train from Alexandria, and being repeatedly turned away from nearby hotels and being scoffed at by passerbys reciting that ‘there is no strength without God’ because they think we are trying to hook up for the night, would you ever surrender yourself to a place like Nitocrisse.

The thought of fresh animal feces lying on the stairs leading to our floor seemed to take center stage in my mind, not to mention plentiful array of feces coated in such thick layers of dust bunnies that I began to suspect they were remnants of the Pharonic era. After all, why else would they have held on to it for so long? Despite the fact that I was in the Cairo, a famous city full of historical treasures, I couldn’t stop my mind from obsessing about the fact that I was staying in a motel, if you can call it that, where I felt dirtier upon entering it than when cab hopping, dining and wandering on the streets of a city infamous for its pollution. (Sorry Cairo, I love you, but just as I love Mexico City - I still can't deny that both of you turn the inside of my nose black!)

In the Cairo Museum my hopes began to grow upon meeting a self-appointed tour guide named Adil, who told us he could find us a nice hotel. Of course in Egypt you can easily find plenty of people looking to make a buck, as I’m sure you could find in any place where low employment rates force many college graduates into menial jobs. This reality first hit me when we arrived in the Cairo airport and we followed a taxi driver to his car, at which point I discovered that he wasn’t a real taxi driver, just a regular guy that stopped by the airport at midnight to make some extra cash by using his personal car to chauffeur people around.
To be continued....pending comments of interest.

Carolina's Other Blogs

Tito Workshop

I'm not a big fan of dance workshops, mostly because they usually focus on choreographies, something I've always found difficult to memorize. However, I enjoyed the Tito workshop mostly because I got to see his interpretation of the dance. This was my second time taking a workshop with an Egyptian instructor, the first was with Mahmoud Reda, and I found that their movements feel much more organic than those of many western instructors. It feels a bit more like dancing than pulling out an arsenal of tricks. The footwork seems much more logical as well, even if it's challenging at times. However, Tito's dancing was mighty fast and I had a hard time keeping up, which only served to remind me of how much more I have to learn and that I need to improve my technique, strength, and stamina. Watching his performance was delightful and reminded me that incorporating personal expression and character into one's dance is just as important as good technique.