Are We So Different?

I think not

A few years ago, I was approached by two American men, people I had never met, to help with a radio project in Yemen.

I can’t reveal a lot more about it other than it sounded like a fantastic idea and the challenge appealed to me.

Plus, I felt uniquely qualified as an American who grew up in a Muslim nation (Malaysia).

I eventually declined the opportunity, and I know I made the right decision, but still find I often think about it.

If you’ve never seen the beauty of Yemen, check THIS out.

The Yemen we see on TV newscasts feels like a radical and violent place, so I think it’s important to remember that the vast majority of Yemenis, of every nation, are much like us: they have families, and aspirations, and dreams as we do.

They are trapped in a situation they cannot now control, mired in poverty, civil war and hopelessness.

We, in this part of the world, have to try to see the human faces we don’t often enough see.

It’s worth the trouble.

And it’s worth reminding ourselves of our great good fortune to have been born here and not there, and to try to find ways to share of our bounty.

That’s what I had hoped to do, and maybe, some day, it can still happen.