If you don't know - well now you know!

I have just been told by my Islam teacher (a Christian from the States) that one of three things generally happen to MESP (Middle Eastern Studies Program) students after they leave....

1) The issues here are too difficult to deal with, and so they go home, reject all that has happened, and assimilate so well back into American society that it is almost if they never came here.
2) They go home, stay active in what's involved in the Middle East (ME), possibly come back here to be involved in social work (most likely not religious affiliated), but generally do not. Or
3) They lose their faith all together.

In case you're wondering, the majority of alumni fall in the first and third categories, with a significant portion being in the third. Doesn't sound very appealing, does it? Why come here at all if you're going to either pretend it didn't happen or treat it as you would a weekend retreat to San Diego or to drop stories like "Oh this one time I was in Istanbul..." or if you're going to lose your faith? Faith in this context I would loosely define as one's previous worldview or paradigm of how the world functions, what America is, what Christianity is, who we are, who the Other is, and various similar things. The unveiling of one's ignorance and prejudice might be another accurate explanation. Why come if all this happens? Is ignorance truly bliss or is the hard truth better?

I don't know what I expected coming here. I think I thought I would have a great cross cultural experience, have some sweet stories to tell in my intercultural studies classes for examples, learn a little Arabic, see awesome places, wail at the wailing wall, and come home happy and educated about the world. Did you know that most of the world's revolutions come when those with raised hopes are not fulfilled? Luckily I'm not a volatile person. ;) Will and I were discussing that idea that if people do not come back from a semester abroad in a different culture significantly changed, then they didn't pay enough attention to things other than themselves. I think this is bizuupt (exactly).

The world is not as I thought it was. The good guys are rarely such, the bad guys are more than what meets the eye, truth is not black and white, Muslims are not our enemies, and my hope and trust in the American government is rapidly deteriorating. Generally when ideas and facts enter someone's worldview that contradict what they know, they reject it. I don't want to do that. Legitimate facts deserve recognition and consideration, and I think this semester will begin a life long pursuit in that direction.

If I didn't know then, well now I do!