In the Muslim religion, for a man to get a divorce from one of his wives, all he has to do is have one witness present & then say : "Telak. Telak. Telak" (divorce, divorce, divorce). That's it. Then his wife is exiled from her husband, her kids & is forced to move back in with her parents, never to see her previous family again.
Clearly this is a cultural norm that doesn't make sense to us, just as we have norms in America that don't make sense to others. What I have found to be the most interesting part of this trip is to observe peoples differing views of each other & to realize that beyond these classifications we are all the same yet we are being separated by the same primitive need: the need to be right...ultimately, the need to survive.
It is a known fact that the Israeli's dislike the Arabs & the Arabic countries don't even acknowledge Israel as a country on their maps. In the United States we have portrayed the Muslim religion as something to be feared, as if they are all the extremists we read about in the newspaper. Yet just as all Americans are not gun totting-Republicans, when I truly engage with another, be it Muslim, Jewish or Christian, my preconceived notions fall away & I am simply connected to the humanity that we both share.
While we may have a different set of beliefs, there is no difference between us.
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