During the ride I found out that Omar actually had a degree in Arabic and Islamic studies. When i found this out I was even more shocked. "Why was he driving a cab when he had a degree?" This made me start to think. This is not the first situation in which I've heard of people from other countries coming to America, and being subjected to working in jobs beneath their education level. My old AP US history teacher told me that the woman who bagged his groceries studied medicine. Why does this happen to highly intelligent, and qualified people. More importantly, how are these people able to be positive and even kind when in their own lives, people have not treated them the same way. I know, what does this have to do with world politics? Well, it is helping me construct my views of society today. This experience has helped my position, that there is hope, kindness, fairness still out there. That I don't have to suspect horrible things will happen all the time. But if they do, there is still those things that remind me of the goodness in humanity. If your still wondering, look at the constant state of cynicism, and the lack of optimism in many people's view of the world and how things work. Further, why are people surprised by kindness nowadays?
Monday, November 1, 2010
Mashallah...I was pleasantly surprised to find kindess
My Halloween night was anything but pleasant. That is until I got into the cab to come back to the dorm from U street. The only thing that turned my night around was the amazingly, genuinely kind cab driver Omar. Now that I think about it, I think it was fate that I went out, missed the metro, froze my but off waiting as all the other cabs were full, realized that my group of friends only had $15 between us and the ride would cost us at least $20, and somehow ended up in Omar cab. When we told him all we had was $15 dollars he looked at us and said, " If that is all you have, then that is what I will take." I was amazed, I was ready to take off my shoes and begin walking back to campus, or calling public safety for a safe ride home, but that was not necessary. Most of the ride was silent, except for Omar's conversation in Arabic.
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I thought your story was a great example of world politics today and the historical writings of the past. What I have noticed especially is that trait of kindness from other people does not happen near as often as it should. People now even tend to think that with kindness their must be something someone has to give back in return for this for this heartfelt act (almost as if it is a “too good to be true phenomena”).
ReplyDeleteI remember Machiavelli referring to kindness briefly in our reading. He stated that in order to be successful "A prince must be indifferent to the charge of cruelty if he is to keep his subjects loyal and united. Having set an example once or twice, he may thereafter act far more mercifully than the princes who, through excessive kindness, allow disorders to arise from which murder and rapine ensue". Machiavelli's point is that a prince should be wise about how much cruelty and kindness he shows toward his people.
I agree with you that (unlike what Machiavelli believed) their should never be a limit to the amount of kindness someone may show to someone else. “Cruelty” and “kindness” in my opinion is misinterpreted by Machiavelli and are too very different qualities and should not be compared so closely to one another.