Let’s start with a very broad statement today. People in the Middle East crave stability. It affects most of their choices and is an organizing principle for life. Perhaps on some level, though, people everywhere crave stability. Let me rephrase it then…stability is a highly esteemed cultural value here. This can be illustrate by describing an alternative cultural value from the West.
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One of our most cherished ideas in the States is personal freedom. This is evident in our choices of living, vocation, education, counter-cultural and pseudo-rebellious actions. Often we try to express this freedom by making non-conformist choices…just like everyone else. We usually fail to see the irony in it. This freedom or liberty is also expressed in the way that mobility is considered an irreplaceable virtue and necessity in life today. Two examples should demonstrate this quite nicely.
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A couple of generations ago most Americans were born, lived out their lives, and were buried around an unmoving place called home. There were such things as family farms and often the children never made it too far from home. For a variety of reasons, that doesn’t happen so often any more. To pack up one’s possessions and move to another house every couple of years is relatively normal, and sometimes even highly valued. It allows us to find the next job promotion or step up in the social status ladder. In affect, our society has become and is becoming more transient. We take our homes with us, rather than going back home.

The second example is related to the first. Our thirst for freedom is also seen in our wireless civilization that connects every moment of our lives. Can you even remember how you once survived without a cell-phone? Just imagine what it would be like to be stuck to one location by a receiver and a cord plugged into the wall. Personally, I cannot even conceive of a life without my laptop. As far as grad school is concerned, it is a necessity of life. It is the centerpiece of my research, writing, brainstorming, communication, and correspondence. If it was not mobile, I absolutely could not have accomplished what I have done over the past two years. Now, only if the iphone could transform into a pup tent with a mattress…what else could you really need in a home. It can’t do that yet, but the iphone can repel mosquitoes while you are camping. Check it out here.

With satellite links and ever-present wifi, we also can be connected to every aspect of our lives, at any time, and in any place. With this reliance and acceptance of technology, we have become finely attuned to dynamic and changing systems. We expect things to change around us constantly and continually. What was new yesterday, is everywhere today, and will be forgotten tomorrow. To remain unchanging is to become irrelevant. Our identity is based more upon our future hopes than in our rooted past.
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One of the prevailing images Americans have of the Middle East is one of the overwhelming presence of the desert. The desert is not everywhere. There are sections of lush forests and vegetation with abundant rainfall. Yet, the desert is never that far away. If not right in front of you, it is always in the peripheral vision. When I look at the desert, I have a hard time imagining that it was ever anything but a desert. It seems that the sands of time have ground to a halt, leaving this vast emptiness unchanged for millennia. Little affects the desert. A Bedouin caravan or an Israeli tank will leave tracks in the sand, but they are gone by tomorrow. Each day slides into another with little to set it apart. Generations come and go without leaving a mark, but the desert always impresses, leaving a mark on each generation.
Brittany and Ian enjoy one of the greener sides of the Middle East. 
This desert imagery has been overly used to make broad generalizations that attempt to explain Middle Eastern cultures. Sometimes, though, it offers insights into a way of life here. The desert is predictable, although it is often harsh. Sandstorms and flashfloods can wreak havoc in the moment, but they are gone by tomorrow. Although it can be violent, it can be seen as a stable presence. And so it is with the rest of life here.
Sunrise over Wadi Rum

It is expected (and is considered an honor) to inherit and carry on the family business. Whether this is as a farmer, shepherd, restaurant owner, or politician. As such, people have a deep connection with the land. They see themselves as in the middle of an unbroken chain of ancestors and descendents. Did you catch that? Whereas, we often view ourselves in terms of a family tree that produced us, they would add the roots to the family tree. They are a link in a chain that stretches unbroken in both directions, into the past as well as into the future. Just think of the genealogies scattered throughout the Bible. They connect the present to the past, and it is their duty to continue that link into the future.
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In the Arab Middle Eastern culture people are usually identified with the village where they were born. Even if they have not been there in years, they still use it as an identifying marker. I am currently living in Beit Jala, which is a sister city to Bethlehem. Another nearby city is Beit Sahour (pronounce… bayt suh-huor). These three locations would all fit into the limits of downtown Albany back home. I have met dozens of people whose last names are Sahouri, Jala, Al-Khalil (Hebron), etc. There are some Palestinian refugees who have been absent from their towns for three generations, and they still identify with the home where their grandparents were born. When I get into a taxi to go somewhere, I do not tell them street names (mainly because they don’t exist). Rather I tell the driver a family name. “I need to go near the house of the Tawwiil family,” and he takes me to the front door. You give directions by naming family businesses, homes, and fields. It’s not unlike my uncle Roger who is a farmer. He used to give me directions to certain fields by naming the different family farms I would need to drive by.
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I grew up in a culture that had a love affair with apocalyptic imagery. Perhaps this was connected to nuclear proliferation and the Cold War. Yet it was also fostered by the End Times prophecies and scenarios that I learned at church and Bible College. They basically viewed human history in a giant toilet bowl, rushing round and round in circles until it reached the ultimate climate of nastiness in the sewer of decadent tribulation. I grew up thinking the end was near. In the Middle East, I have learned that time is perceived as a continuum or a cycle, rather than a timeline. Although tomorrow could be better or worse than today, there will still be a tomorrow. As such, that which ensured survival in the past will guarantee their arrival in tomorrow. This is one reason that stability is so highly valued.
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Now, can you see why there is often a disconnect between the Western and the Middle Eastern mind?
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[This posting has the potential of becoming a series based on observations of local culture. However, I don't post blogs just to have something to write. If I receive feedback, I might be encouraged to write more often. Yes, this is a shameless plug for comments, but I just need to know if should continue writing or not. If you don't want to make a comment on the blog, just email me at crsimon18@hotmail.com]