Well this meeting was very interesting in many ways. It made me think on how much effort do we really put in things if it does not come with a reward. In the case of the "Art Competition" I felt both teams were very involved, but only for a "gift card" before being punked. Obivously its a cool thing to win a gift card, but not when you try to make up a million stories on how this happened or why this is this if you lost. There are in some cases winners and losers and that's where sportsmanship comes into play. It should not led to division. Seriously I have to give Khadija and Amany some credit because it taught us a moral lesson on teamwork. The Icon exposer this week was very interesting. I felt the "DEBATES" are shaping up into dissecting the response into multiple questions and answers instead of hopping from one topic to another. Salam+
Mentioning the topic from previous session which was culture vs Islam, I would like to elaborate on the topic to my interest in Languages and mention the differences in "Arabic". Today in present day there is various dialects from the Levantine dialect of "Shaloni'ic" to the "Dearborn" Dialect of "sho cuz" or "Wallah Bro", but the main one is Standard Arabic which is familiar among Arabic speakers. I feel the the Culture vs Islam is similar to this case because words are claimed to be "Arabic" in dialects, but may have been derived from previous languages like how people claim some of their cultural customs are incorporated with Islam. In my opinion Dialects are very unique and important because its kind of like a "tray of Pastries", the pastries symbolize the various words that have been preserved from classical or modern languages. Although dialect may be a wonderful thing there is a standard Arabic and it is "Formal", so that means its important as well.
One of the biggest misconceptions out these days is that most Muslims are Arab and all Arabs are Muslim. This is played by the lack of education of the public and the media distributing the news in a misleading way. Arabs can be Muslim, Christian and Jewish. Muslims are all over the world and are very ethnically diverse. Arabic is important for Muslim to learn, so they can be able to read and understand the Qur'an.
One of the examples is Pastor Jones protesting in the "ARABIC FESTIVAL" which is cultural not religious. An Arab can be a person that is Muslim, christian and or Jewish. It makes him look ignorant and prejudice towards Arabs. It makes him look uneducated on the topic he is protesting. The words he used such as "Sharia" where used frequently in a negative way and where poorly defined. I felt that he represented Christians in a wrong way and felt he represented himself. Muslims and Christians are both monotheistic brothers along with Judaism . So yesterday I was in the Eastern Market "suq" in Detroit and purchased a Parsley plant and a mint plant. The mint plant was for my new neighbors behind me as a way of building bridges in developing a friendship. The growth of the mint plant symbolizes the bond between the neighbors growing. This relates to my P.D.P because I am gearing towards building bridges and clearing misconceptions in bring people together. I feel small acts such as this is the key in developing dialogue and promoting peace that
The reason is for not having confidence in two seperate "Sudanese States" is it may "plant the seeds for future disputes". Obiviously in this case there is going to be a antagonist (north) and a underdog (south) for the media to follow. This means this will start some type of groups dealing with mainly religion and ethnicity against each other over time over land. I just do not want it to turn to another "Bosnia" or "Rwanda". If you examine what led to those brutal conflicts, you will come to a conclusion that division was the main causes. Going back to our discussion on fear and how it moves people. In this case of the southern Sudanese you can say fear moved them to accomplish their dream which was independence. It took a generation under fear to overcome, but in this case it was not the youth similar to the "Arab Revolutions". Both sides regardless of religion or ethnicity are people who have aspirations to progress and have a suitable life.
Obviously independence is something to be happy about, but in this case of Sudan, it seems that it was in western interest in splitting it , so they can have a Oil supplier and create a fresh new conflict. This will ultimately make Southern Sudan a Land locked stated which means it will probably have build diplomatic relations with Eritrea, so it can have access to the red sea. This will make the GDP of Sudan split. In the short time this will be a party, but in the long run it has many obstacles such as building the capital and making allies.
Its great, so far. I Feel we are going in a right direction with the help of the amazing teachers such as Ammeriah, Amani&Israa and Khadji. Its was cool when Ammeriah showed us a clip on Malcolm X and we had a debate after, how we read a article on the 2nd Caliph Omar with Khadji. The moral lessen from the Omar article was inspiring. I like how I can always contact Ammeriah for any questions which makes me always informed about what is going on. Thanks=) Looking forwar
There should be strong family ties and interactions in the Detroit families. This will give family members a "backbone" in situations or motivations in school. The level of respect for elders should be a main priority because they are the ones who planted the "seeds" for developments to sprout. This will probably follow a low crime rate and high Education rate.
Once these values such as family and elders are respected then i think Detroit can follow its next step and "plant the seeds" for the Youth that will one day make a positive change!! Believe or not the Arabic and Hebrew Language are similar in many ways. Both share a beautiful history along with Aramaic. The Levantine Arabic dialect tend to put "be'e" before words which was derived from Aramaic. The word for village and is closely similar in Arabic, Hebrew and Aramaic. Studying Languages connects people in discovering connections and builds dialogue.
Here is a amazing documentary on Aramaic in a Syrian village of Maloula! =) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iy38UQ9EQ6o Enjoy!!!!!! I Feel that achieving peace and prosperity can come from unity. This will come with a thought process in which a person thinks of a whole instead of singling themselves out. This issue is evident in Dearborn with the multi-Arab variety which i am not saying is a bad thing, its great, but i feel that students from a certain Arab nationality tend to only interact with only people that have the same nationality as them. We should build bridges in connecting with others.
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