About fifteen years ago my family and I moved to the United States. We were probably one of five Egyptian families to have moved to the small Pennsylvania town. In order to come to the untied stated, once accepted by the lottery system, you need someone to accept to take care of you in case something happens. This person was a guy in Virginia that devoted his spear time in helping all those coming to the United States. His actions and the following situation helped change the views of my parents.

Two weeks later in Pennsylvania, my parents needed groceries. However, we moved in the 1995-1996 blizzard. They needed to walk by foot to buy food. They still didn’t have a car, no one to really help them, and the guy from Virginia didn’t have enough time to spend with us, he did as much as he could.
My parents decided to walk by foot, in the snow. Then a random car pulled over an offered them a lift. My dad refused because he wasn’t about to get in the car with a random stranger, however my mom was in so much pain from the cold and carrying the food that she forced my dad to accept. These Americans even said themselves that they don’t just stop for people but something about this time that made them want to help. They took my parents home.
These two people ended up being a minister and his wife. They saw that we didn’t even have furniture yet, and no one to really help with anything. They left, 2 hours later. They come back with their whole congregation with furniture, toys; you name it they brought for my family. They helped us get to school and showed us the ropes.
Its funny because these random people took us under their arms, yet the other surrounding Egyptian families didn’t. Still to this day, it’s hard to see other immigrant Egyptians helping their fellow new comers. However, it was that hardship that my parents endured that led them to open up their homes their after to every incoming Egyptian family. I would say that this places a soft spot for me in my heart because it’s scary to move to new country and just start fresh. It’s even sadder to know people understand that and yet refuse to help.
I always find it curious that people don’t want to help. I never understood why. Many immigrants I feel within their communities don’t like to see others succeed. I feel its because they felt that they worked hard to learn the ropes that maybe, if they tell someone new right away that they will have it easy and succeed while they had to work so hard to accomplish that on their own.

I can have noticed for a while that there was segregation in schools for a long time. To know that this is happening makes it really hard to believe that this can happen now a days. It doesn’t however surprise me. I feel that the more mixed we become, in other words, that more diverse we are, the more segregated we become.
When people come from another country they tend to stick to their own kind. They are fresh from that country and don’t know English too well, so they only hang out with their people so that they get by and feel at home. That is one of the main reasons people tend to seem segregated. Just going to this campus, as I walk through the hub, on each side there are different groups all around me. At first you would say, wow what a diverse campus. However the more closely you pay attention you notice that there is no mingling between races.
The second main reason I think people tend to stick to their own kind is the feeling of fitting in. It is much harder to fit in with people that are not of your own kind. Others my not understand where you come from or what you may be referring to as opposed to someone that does and kind of thinks the same way as people from your country would. As an Egyptian I can say on comment and an Egyptian would automatically understand what im saying. However, when I have made that same comment to an American for instance, I get a confused reaction. So I would need to take time to explain what and where im coming from. So it makes it harder to connect.
Overall I can see why there is so much segregation happing. However I don’t know if I consider this a bad thing because I can’t help but understand where it might coming from. However, segregation leads to so many problems that I don’t like. This segregation that is happening is only setting us back. People are becoming more afraid to talk to others. Currently I have been meeting with non middle eastern students and I have gotten the chance to ask them what is it that makes it hard for them to talk to middle easterns. The common response is that they feel that middle easterns come off as un approachable. However, once they start to talk to them, they say I didn’t realize it was that easy to get to know you guys. I feel that schools should include more interactive activities for students to interact. The fact that schools are more segregated now then before really sits uneasy for me. I feel that it is only setting us back as a country then moving us forward.

Putting myself in the middle eastern’s shoes definitely changed my perspective on the whole thing. I was well aware that we were at war mainly due to the oil they have. I knew that this is why we continued to be there, and that this is why we have been there for so long and still will be. We are not quite ready to just give it all up and have oil prices sky rocket. We lead lives much better than the rest of the world, and many of us have never really been outside the united states to even see how the rest of the world lives. Not only have most of use been outside the country, most of use have a bias opinion on what we think of the middle east. When we think middle east we think war with iraq and terrorism comes from the middle east. However, we never really think about what we are doing and our actions toward those countries.
Even though I was aware of why we were there, this class session actually made me take the time to actually really think about what it would be like to be in that other persons place. I actually came out kind of mad at the whole situation and mad for them. To have another country come in and take their stuff when they are themselves poor, really made me mad for the Iraqi people. What angered me more, is that because we have a bias view on the middle east, and the mentality that we are better, people feel that they can take advantage. That video of the persons car being smashed but the solders hit me hard. That was someone’s only way of providing for themselves. That was crushed in seconds because someone stole wood. How does someone stealing wood have any importance to what is supposed to be the reason we are there. Then crushing that car, the soldiers treated that like it was a toy, and to them it was nothing. They just took away some poor man’s lively hood and their only way of income. We are supposed to be the good guys, however what we are doing is the exact opposite
For years we have been at war. However, even when I ask people how do you think about the war, or do you even know why we are at war? The common response that I have gotten is that im not really sure. No one really understands why we are there for such a long time, however the oil reason has been passed around from time to time. Oil, is the main reason we are still there, but we are doing it at the expense of others.
Putting myself in their place made me really think about what it feels like to be in their shoes.

Putting myself in the middle eastern’s shoes definitely changed my perspective on the whole thing. I was well aware that we were at war mainly due to the oil they have. I knew that this is why we continued to be there, and that this is why we have been there for so long and still will be. We are not quite ready to just give it all up and have oil prices sky rocket. We lead lives much better than the rest of the world, and many of us have never really been outside the united states to even see how the rest of the world lives. Not only have most of use been outside the country, most of use have a bias opinion on what we think of the middle east. When we think middle east we think war with iraq and terrorism comes from the middle east. However, we never really think about what we are doing and our actions toward those countries.
Even though I was aware of why we were there, this class session actually made me take the time to actually really think about what it would be like to be in that other persons place. I actually came out kind of mad at the whole situation and mad for them. To have another country come in and take their stuff when they are themselves poor, really made me mad for the Iraqi people. What angered me more, is that because we have a bias view on the middle east, and the mentality that we are better, people feel that they can take advantage. That video of the persons car being smashed but the solders hit me hard. That was someone’s only way of providing for themselves. That was crushed in seconds because someone stole wood. How does someone stealing wood have any importance to what is supposed to be the reason we are there. Then crushing that car, the soldiers treated that like it was a toy, and to them it was nothing. They just took away some poor man’s lively hood and their only way of income. We are supposed to be the good guys, however what we are doing is the exact opposite
For years we have been at war. However, even when I ask people how do you think about the war, or do you even know why we are at war? The common response that I have gotten is that im not really sure. No one really understands why we are there for such a long time, however the oil reason has been passed around from time to time. Oil, is the main reason we are still there, but we are doing it at the expense of others.
Putting myself in their place made me really think about what it feels like to be in their shoes.

Putting myself in the middle eastern’s shoes definitely changed my perspective on the whole thing. I was well aware that we were at war mainly due to the oil they have. I knew that this is why we continued to be there, and that this is why we have been there for so long and still will be. We are not quite ready to just give it all up and have oil prices sky rocket. We lead lives much better than the rest of the world, and many of us have never really been outside the united states to even see how the rest of the world lives. Not only have most of use been outside the country, most of use have a bias opinion on what we think of the middle east. When we think middle east we think war with iraq and terrorism comes from the middle east. However, we never really think about what we are doing and our actions toward those countries.
Even though I was aware of why we were there, this class session actually made me take the time to actually really think about what it would be like to be in that other persons place. I actually came out kind of mad at the whole situation and mad for them. To have another country come in and take their stuff when they are themselves poor, really made me mad for the Iraqi people. What angered me more, is that because we have a bias view on the middle east, and the mentality that we are better, people feel that they can take advantage. That video of the persons car being smashed but the solders hit me hard. That was someone’s only way of providing for themselves. That was crushed in seconds because someone stole wood. How does someone stealing wood have any importance to what is supposed to be the reason we are there. Then crushing that car, the soldiers treated that like it was a toy, and to them it was nothing. They just took away some poor man’s lively hood and their only way of income. We are supposed to be the good guys, however what we are doing is the exact opposite
For years we have been at war. However, even when I ask people how do you think about the war, or do you even know why we are at war? The common response that I have gotten is that im not really sure. No one really understands why we are there for such a long time, however the oil reason has been passed around from time to time. Oil, is the main reason we are still there, but we are doing it at the expense of others.
Putting myself in their place made me really think about what it feels like to be in their shoes.

Putting myself in the middle eastern’s shoes definitely changed my perspective on the whole thing. I was well aware that we were at war mainly due to the oil they have. I knew that this is why we continued to be there, and that this is why we have been there for so long and still will be. We are not quite ready to just give it all up and have oil prices sky rocket. We lead lives much better than the rest of the world, and many of us have never really been outside the united states to even see how the rest of the world lives. Not only have most of use been outside the country, most of use have a bias opinion on what we think of the middle east. When we think middle east we think war with iraq and terrorism comes from the middle east. However, we never really think about what we are doing and our actions toward those countries.

Putting myself in the middle eastern’s shoes definitely changed my perspective on the whole thing. I was well aware that we were at war mainly due to the oil they have. I knew that this is why we continued to be there, and that this is why we have been there for so long and still will be. We are not quite ready to just give it all up and have oil prices sky rocket. We lead lives much better than the rest of the world, and many of us have never really been outside the united states to even see how the rest of the world lives. Not only have most of use been outside the country, most of use have a bias opinion on what we think of the middle east. When we think middle east we think war with iraq and terrorism comes from the middle east. However, we never really think about what we are doing and our actions toward those countries.
Even though I was aware of why we were there, this class session actually made me take the time to actually really think about what it would be like to be in that other persons place. I actually came out kind of mad at the whole situation and mad for them. To have another country come in and take their stuff when they are themselves poor, really made me mad for the Iraqi people. What angered me more, is that because we have a bias view on the middle east, and the mentality that we are better, people feel that they can take advantage. That video of the persons car being smashed but the solders hit me hard. That was someone’s only way of providing for themselves. That was crushed in seconds because someone stole wood. How does someone stealing wood have any importance to what is supposed to be the reason we are there. Then crushing that car, the soldiers treated that like it was a toy, and to them it was nothing. They just took away some poor man’s lively hood and their only way of income. We are supposed to be the good guys, however what we are doing is the exact opposite
For years we have been at war. However, even when I ask people how do you think about the war, or do you even know why we are at war? The common response that I have gotten is that im not really sure. No one really understands why we are there for such a long time, however the oil reason has been passed around from time to time. Oil, is the main reason we are still there, but we are doing it at the expense of others.
Putting myself in their place made me really think about what it feels like to be in their shoes.

Putting myself in the middle eastern’s shoes definitely changed my perspective on the whole thing. I was well aware that we were at war mainly due to the oil they have. I knew that this is why we continued to be there, and that this is why we have been there for so long and still will be. We are not quite ready to just give it all up and have oil prices sky rocket. We lead lives much better than the rest of the world, and many of us have never really been outside the united states to even see how the rest of the world lives. Not only have most of use been outside the country, most of use have a bias opinion on what we think of the middle east. When we think middle east we think war with iraq and terrorism comes from the middle east. However, we never really think about what we are doing and our actions toward those countries.

I have always thought about that question. I am bilingual and can speak Arabic very will, and with friends and family, especially my sisters, we tend to speak in Arabic in public. So, that question always came across my mind in the terms of how others feel about those themselves. The problem is, ive encountered that too myself, and it is uncomfortable. You have no idea what people are saying, if they are talking about you, or in general if they are trying to say something not necessarily about you, but something they don’t want you to know.
The main reasons that I tend to switch over to my first language tend to be when I don’t’ want anyone else around me to know about the subject or situation I want to share with just that close friend or sibling. Also if I want to tell a funny joke, or make a comment that may be inappropriate in a certain situation and/or subject. In a sense, if no one can understand than its just made for me and that other person, like an inside joke. I guess to put it in another way, like when your on the bus and you hear that one person talking on the phone, and the bus is in complete silence, the whole bus would have known in 5 min about that person’s situation, problem, or life because it is automatically registered and understood. So without even trying to ease drop or be nosey, you can’t help it. But if that person was speaking the whole time in another language and people would probably think, that’s so cool to hear, but automatically tune them out because they can’t understand it. So, sometimes it’s just easier to speak in another language in those situations.
But, for me to answer that question more, I definitely do find it uncomfortable in certain situations, because if we are having a conversation in English where we all are interacting, and all of a sudden two people switch into another language, then its hard not to think they may be talking about you. However, there are some situations that you walk by a group that has been already speaking in their language, and you still get the feeling that you may be talked about. But in all honesty the second situation can happen with same speakers, people behaviors tend to not vary much from cultures, the sense of being talked about is the same in all.
So overall, being a bilingual person, and knowing the reasons why I switch to the other language, I feel should make me, and sometimes it does even more at times, feel uncomfortable. That is one of the main reasons, when friends are around who can’t speak my language too, I avoid as much as possible in doing that to them because I know the feeling. But I can say, there have been times when you are in the middle of the crowd and what to tell your friend something about something crazy that’s happening around you, everyone of us probably thought at one point, man I wish we both knew a different language right now…so in a sense, we shouldn’t be so uncomfortable, because when you get the opportunity to travel where no one else can understand you.

This is a difficult question to answer because it really gets you to have to think how you would really act in a situation. Personally I was in that category of witnessing a racist act. However, the racist act had actually happened to my family. The second day after moving to our new house, this elderly lady, about sixty years old, knocked on our door. We welcomed her, and invited her in, she came to visit her new next door neighbors. However she heard my parents had an accent and then continued to say to us “me and my family don’t like foreigners, no me, my husband, nor my kids, we have never liked them.” My parents were taken back and hesitant to respond to that. I was about 11 when this happened, and in my head, I couldn’t help and wonder first off, that she actually said that, and secondly I wonder why she thinks like that or has that view. Who gave her such a bad idea about foreigners or immigrants? Luckily my mother had a very good response for her, she said we are not people to hate or not like, and hopefully we can be a representation that foreigners are not bad. I was surprised how calmly my mother answered her, and even more surprisingly how much she actually wanted to prove to this lady that foreigners are not bad. Making me think, would I have responded that calmly? If it was up to me I would have been insulted and thought how closed minded do you have to be to say something as blunt and closed minded as that. But thinking more about what happened, I feel I would respond differently, now I would ask why and what gave you the impression that foreigners are bad, and like my mother did I would want to show and prove to that person that foreigners or immigrants are not bad. Needless to say, we had spent over five years with out neighbor before she moved out. She came over about twice a week to chat and figure us out. She started to love us and right before she moved out after her husband died, she came over and said , you guys had changed my whole opinion and view about foreigners. That of course made my parents happened, and now when I see people realize that we are not too different from them, I have that same happy feeling. Ive never had straight racist acts, but I have seen how people treat foreigners, especially when we moved here, and to this day it angers me how people say things to make others inferior. Unless someone is sincerely interested in learning and doing it to intentionally upset the other, my blood does boil and it’s a shame to still see things like that.