My father is in the foreign service which means that my family moves country every three years. Most people generally react by saying how cool it must be, etc. I have to agree that for the most part it really is. It's amazing to see so many places, and to become immersed in so many different cultures at a very young age. The exposure is immense. However a lot of these sentiments are expressed in hindsight, because at a young age, the feeling of constantly leaving your home and all your good friends is gut-wrenching. Nowadays my friends all know people from when they were in kindergarten and I think thats just amazing.
I finished high school from the Damascus Community School (DCS) in Syria. Syria is an amazing place. Damascus is the oldest continuously inhabited city in the world, and the monuments and history is astounding. The charm of the old city is beautiful and can really transport you back to another world. However, it was also an extremely closed country, which refused any western influences. For example there was only one movie theatre in town and it would never show any western movies. There were none of the typical fast food joints or imported soft drinks. We didn't have Coca-Cola, rather it was Mandarin Cola! Not Kentucky Fried Chicken, but Kuwaiti Fried Chicken!! Any time one needed a change, we could go across the border to Lebanon which was in direct contrast. Many consider Beirut to be a mini-Paris, although unfortunately there are continous political problems.
Needless to say most of our activities in high school centered around the school itself. There were not m
any exciting places to go, although we loved our usual haunts, and so we were all very involved in extra-curricular activities at school ranging from fine arts to academic games to soccer. DCS really was a second home, if not first!, to many of us. The teachers were mostly young and therefore it was easy to be very comfortable around them and with none of the hierarchy witnessed in Indian schools.
I graduated from DCS in 2003 with castles worth of memories and why I'm writing this is as a tribute to the those memories. The school closed down one month ago, although I'm hoping not permanently. Tensions between Syrians and Americans had escalated and as DCS was american run, due to safety concerns it became necessary to evacuate the school and move everyone elsewhere. When we were studying there, we often had evacuation drills wherein we would all line up and leave the premises to the nearest shelter in the case of increased hostility or any bombing, but I don't think anyone expected it to reach this stage. This is just another example of how in a world where communication is becoming so much easier and understanding of cultures can be found at a few clicks of Google search, people are creating larger and larger distances.
One would expect that the breaking of so many physical barriers would help us to become one and to understand each other better, regardless of religion, culture or geographic location. However it seems that we are creating new issues for each barrier that is broken by technology and innovation. Unfortunately I cannot see the solution to this, except that we must find ways to unite. Tragedies like what happened last week in Mumbai show us exactly what terror can be on a large scale. Every region in the world is facing problems, whether it be signified by the fact that my high school diploma is from a school that no longer exists, or that even the best 5 star hotels in India are not invulnerable.
This is a time to build strength and networks, and not to blame specific factions or countries who may be involved, otherwise tomorrow truly may never come. Let's look towards the future and a world where faith in each other will one day be enough.
