They often experienced similar generational gaps in understanding. And they too were incredibly passionate about working with youth to instill sustainable change, much like Sara and the Yalla Nbader Initiative, and Maha and Reach the World.
I quickly realized that my seeds of anger and frustration weren’t really rooted in our dinner-table shout-down that night. Rather, they were tied to the mission of ignorance—the “out of sight, out of mind” mentality—that I had been carrying for most of my life. And had I not traveled, had not lived abroad, I very well might have made the exact same correlation that Josh’s father drew that night. And I could not fault him, nor my old self, for that.
A central tenent of RTW’s cross-cultural exchanges is the importance of cultivating empathy for the “other.” Now that we are home, our views and perceptions of the “other,” have changed—wildly. For us, the “other” no longer encompasses people from diverse ethnic and cultural backgrounds. Now, it's how we look at our fellow Americans, our friends, our family members, and our past selves.
I wrote that I can’t fault Josh’s father for his perspectives, nor can I fault my past self for perpetuating a mission of ignorance. But what I can do is this: I can continue the discussions; I can continue sharing our stories and experiences with people from other sides of the world; I can continue to embrace an international perspective; I can continue to practice empathy for the “other”—in all of its forms— and most of all, I can continue on this transformational journey with Sara and the Green Space team.
