I have a friend who is partly of the middle eastern descent. He told me that he is quite often the person selected for a "random" security check at the airports. While at the Chicago airport, I myself recall the entire security unit keeping their blunt stares at us as we entered the United States from India. And then today, at a book discussion in the University, I heard another story from an Indian girl.
We were talking about the reaction to the Japanese and other Asians who were mistaken to be Japanese, after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. And it came tohow people react ou of fear and how things have changed after the 9/11 incident. So that girl had a Saudi Arabian passport and had some edibles with her. However, the whole family was stopped at the airport for two days to check if the food was harmful and could be a possible source of food poisoning...
People react out of fear, but I don't think it is justified. They are ignorant fools if they do that.
As I was talking about this with my friend, she recommended me to read The Assault on Reason by Al Gore. He talks about the relationship of politics, fear, and faith, and how politics uses fear as another contemplative device...
1 comment:
Hello again Ruia,
Sounds like you will have alot of variety in you uni days! I actually saw the Dalai Lama in Sydney a little while back when he delivered a public talk on inner peace. it was a pretty awesome experience. And thanks for all the tips, you have made me so excited about heading to India! I will actually be travelling independently, just doing some work with the TPP. Keep your eye on my blog around july next year if you are interested in my trip through India! I'm planning on doing Borneo, Cambodia, Laos, Nepal again, maybe Bhutan, and definitely India. Do you travel to India yourself?
It's great to hear you work for the Red Cross too, always good 2 see someone trying to make a difference.
Best of luck with everything anyway, and keep swaying to the Endless Dance,
The Itinerant.
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