Sit and Have Tea With Me

"Friendship is the only cement that will ever hold the world together."

    - Woodrow T. Wilson (1856-1924), 28th U.S. president

When I read stories like this one by blogger Michael J. Totten I'm encouraged to believe that someday there will be peace in this world. If people from different cultures can befriend each other as Totten and his wife Shelly did on their recent visit to Tunisia, I feel that there's hope for all of us.

Take a few minutes of your time and read "An American in Tunisia." When you're finished, ask yourself if what happened to the Tottens while they were there has to be the exception rather than the rule. It seems to me when government and politics are put aside, that the average American can usually connect with the average man-on-the-street from almost any other country on this earth in a warm-hearted and friendly way. It happens all the time.

Sadly, in today's world, when many of our country's enemies are Arab Muslims, most of us are likely to believe that friendship with any of them is impossible. Watching the evening news leaves us thinking that Muslims are fanatical bomb-toting, trigger-happy maniacs who have only one thing in mind--killing Americans. Clearly a dangerous part of the globe, few of us would ever consider visiting the Middle East, especially now. Who could be so foolish?

Yet there are exceptions to that kind of thinking, for Michael and Shelly Totten made the trip and discovered people like Jamel, Abdallah, Lotfi and M'hamed who were more than willing to open their homes to them. "You must come sit and have tea with me," sounds like something a good neighbor might say. Is it possible that many of those we view as the enemy are just plain folks who, when given the opportunity to get to know us, would actually want to be our friend?

Michael and Shelly's experience in Tunisia would appear to lend credence to that possibility unless we believe that the Arabs who live there are an anomaly. Are they? Perhaps, but I sincerely doubt it.