Monday, February 23, 2009

“That’s Why We Came Here, Sir”

An early morning in Boston, it is, preparing for the final day on the U.S. trip, and nearing the time to awaken the students, or as I like to call them now, the “U.S. economic stimulus package.”

We arrived last Wednesday to participate in the 2009 Harvard Model Congress. Several months ago Zahi and Fawaz, two KA juniors, had approached me about chaperoning this trip. I thought it was a curious idea since it is all about the workings, frustrations, and triumphs of the federal government in the United States. They thought it would be good for the Jordanian students to see how this system worked.

And it would be a trip to Boston, and a week away from school!

So 53 applicants, one disastrous trip to the U.S. Embassy, several nail-biting days of awaiting for visas, grateful hearts and hands accepting the $50,000 in donations from generous sponsors later—we arrive at the Boston Sheraton for five nights, many hours of congressional sessions, and trips to any and all retail places in the environs (hence the label that my delegation of 20 students has acted as a genuine economic stimulus package!).

In the Opening Ceremonies we stood at the back of the Grand Ballroom with about 200 other students who did not get to sit down either in the fancy ballroom. A representative from Minnesota had been tapped for the keynote address for the Opening Ceremonies, and he droned on, quoting Bill Clinton and John F. Kennedy just a little much (couldn’t he think of anything original to say?). At one point I would swear he read the same page of his speech a second time—but it was warm and crowded in the Peanut Gallery at the back of the ballroom, but I know he used some of the same phrases…

Anyway, he gets to the second exhortation of his “Ask not what your country can do…” recitation when he warns these young scholars from across the United States that the “gravest threat to America is Arab Islamic extremists.”

This was interesting to me for two reasons—one, if we were to evaluate our threats, what would our criteria be for determining the “gravest threat,” and would we agree it is “Arab Islamic extremists” (many might, although one could argue that currently our gravest threat appears to have been corporate greed, a ridiculous failure to check on bank and home loans, and a lack of curiosity as to how to solve the economic woes)? Of course, beyond that intellectual exercise, I have just traveled thousands of miles for a weekend of peaceful mingling with my Arab Islamic students and these religiously pluralistic American students. In fact, as we scanned the program of participating schools (about 1500 students), only two schools journeyed from beyond the shores of the US of A: our school from Jordan, and a school from the United Arab Emirates. Ouch. It just felt, I don’t know, a little insensitive to skewer in particular the two schools (well, of course the region, not the schools) who felt it was exciting, and important, to work with American students.

My students looked at me for confirmation—I whispered, “well he did have the word ‘extremist’ in there, and you aren’t extremists…but it felt like a bit of an apologia for the speaker. These were the Opening Ceremonies—what exactly would be opening? A Pandora’s box?

One of my students, Mohammad, joined the line of students eager to ask questions to our keynote speaker. He turned to me and said, “Mr. John, I need to go and say something to him.” I simply asked him to be polite. When his turn in line came, he had decided to say, “Mr. Representative, I appreciate the care in your speech to outline the threats to the American people. As a visitor to the United States this week, and as an Arab Muslim, I hope to show my peers, these hundreds of teen-agers who came here, that they do not need to fear every Arab Muslim. That’s why we came here, Sir.” Point well made.

So, of course, it is interesting to consider why we 22 came on this trip. Sure, the Model Congress sounded interesting, or maybe a week away from school enticed, or the legendary siren song of the name of ‘Harvard’ called out. This group has been such a textbook example of group trips: oh, the old, “Please be on time and do not make everyone wait for you,” and “Yes, it is early, but it is time to get up. You have thirty minutes to get showered, dressed, and be in the congressional session!” Oh, the song is the same whether with kids from Gastonia, Charlotte, New York, or Jordan!

------by the way…I have had a steady stream of students in an out for an hour, as I have tried to write the next paragraph! They are trying to get everything accomplished on the check-list to depart so they can go and attack the mall one more time…I think I can recover the train of thought…but even still, that derailment of the train of thought is such the stuff of group travel! (As is perhaps the question posed by one student 10 times during the flight the other night, “Mr. John, Do you think I am sexy?” I told the 14-year old freshman the whole plane indeed concurred with his sexy idea… Oh my…

It was an eye-opening experience for the students—in the first day they kept exclaiming how boring it was—everybody talking, angling for positions to talk, and just so much talk! I guess they have never tuned into C-Span and the real sessions of Congress! Several of them told of some poor initial contacts with their American peers, comments about Arabs, can’t trust them, shocked at the pronunciation of their names, et cetera. We just kept echoing Mohammad’s comment about why we had come.

But on the second day several discovered the fun and thrill of working in a model congress: Moutasem proudly told me how he had drafted a bill with a kid from Connecticut, and Zahi told me that he and Fawaz won a case against the Supreme Court. Raya noted that she talked in session! Thaer said that several people asked to learn some Arabic words, like “hello,” and “I love you.” One boy was quite excited with the exchange of email addresses with some girls. My former students from Hackley were very interested to meet their Jordanian counterparts. There was much more energy as they dealt with the 3 hour sessions and stretched their attention spans. And of course, the meal breaks continued to fascinate—so much to buy!

In the little bit of free time the girls discovered a shop that just sold those Ugg boot things (ugg is an apt title, in my book)—how many boxes of Uggs are allowed in international travel??!! And then the miracle of Best Buy—the cameras, laptops, ipods and phones! Again, I will expect a thank-you note from the Treasury Department!

As the days wore on, they discovered many of the joys of coming on these kinds of trips: managing time, living with roommates, working and compromising in government simulations and learning and walking on the streets, and listening to many people.

For me, one of the main reasons I came on the trip was so simple—it was a return to Boston. Somehow five years exactly had passed (I sound like the Stage Manager narrator in Our Town!) since I had been in Boston at another Harvard Model Congress. I had always loved the trip here most importantly as a chance to re-connect with a contingent from the legendary Denison clique.

It is hard to fathom that it had been since 2004 since I came up to Beantown, but when this trip was in the works, I let the Boston contingent of the clique know, and plans were made. Sue, the dynamic wonder from Wadsworth, even planned to fly into Boston for the weekend to visit.

So Friday night was a reunion. We met in a Tapas restaurant, (the same from 2004!) a hop and a skip from the Sheraton (so I could check in with the students) and enjoyed an entire evening with Sue and Susan and Jill.

Some people, I suppose, look a lifetime for friends like these. I am trying to figure out how to describe the warmth and sustenance of this friendship—I guess I need a food metaphor. I think my Denison friends (Boston contingent and the other “branches” as well) are like my Comfort Food Friends.

That might sound a little un-important (I can hear a couple saying, “What?? I’m like macaroni and cheese??) but it is meant as a loving compliment. Just as we have food dishes that delight us, and over the decades that food happiness comes to mean more and more, and always have the power to revive us, these friends are like those dishes. We have known each other for 25 years, been separated as a group for over 20 years, yet, every time we are in the presence of each other, it couldn’t be happier, more fulfilling, more important. When I sink my teeth into a 5-way at Skyline’s in about 50 days, there will be a lifetime of love and happiness in that dish. When I hugged Susan and Jill the other night, after five years of such deprivation, it was a reminder of the supreme kind of friendship happiness. As callow youths something called out in us to each other, bonds were forged, trust earned, and love exchanged. All these years later, through the travails of shattered hopes and expectations in life, these friendships not only provide laughter, but provide nurturing and healing.

Nurturing and healing—not bad for a week’s trip. Mohammad was right: “That’s Why We Came Here, Sir.”

2 comments:

Apollo said...

Mr. John,

I'm writing to show my appreciation for your blog; I find it amusing. It is often my dose of non-journalistic intellectual euphoria.

Abdullah Awad
(my sister is a Freshman at King's Academy)

John said...

Thanks Apollo for your comment. I wonder what it is like to read if you don't know me, since the blog is riddled with eccentric, idiosyncratic references and allusions. But it is very fun to write my impressions of what I am doing and what I miss and what i think and what people touch me in this world. Thanks again...