DC

At the MLK Memorial

 

First day in DC: In the movie we watched last week, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, there was a quote that had a major impact on me. I realized soon after that its message emerges in almost every conversation we have. One of the leading characters said, “we need to start thinking of life as a privilege, not a right.” If we had a right to be alive, then there would be no reason to consider others because it could never be taken away from us. This type of thinking negates the need to be an upstanding citizen who feels morally obliged to contribute to the general welfare of humanity. I read an interesting scenario through which this quote can be better understood. Earning your driver’s license is considered a privilege, not a right. The article explained that “no one is obliged to give you your license; you must earn it to obtain it.” This being said, you must continue to exhibit good behavior on the road in order to retain your ability to drive. If an irresponsible driver threatens the lives of others, than the privilege to drive is revoked. Shouldn’t we approach life the same way we approach the road? Thinking of life as a privilege encourages all men and women from across the globe to respect others and treat them with kindness and generosity. (I do not believe that one’s life should be revoked if they commit a murder, but if you have no empathy and are completely egocentric, are you even human?) 

Our museum tours, lectures, and daily encounters have implied that from the beginning of time to this day, the “life is a privilege” mentality has never been fully adopted. During the 1870’s, owners of tenements shoved families ranging from five to twelve people into one-bedroom apartments, which created an environment conducive for contracting deadly diseases. When children were sick, store holders sold a medicine that “cured all.” What exactly were the ingredients of this magical concoction? Opium and Alcohol. These people were lied to, taken advantage of, and treated like objects, not humans. Slavery: an indelible stain on our nation. African Americans were stripped of their livelihood and reduced to tortured animals. Hitler believed humanity would only achieve greatness if it were dominated by a pure Aryan race and so he felt obliged to cleanse the world of all toxic ethnicities or “inferiors.” The existence of Jews interfered with the potential of his superior raise and thus had to be destroyed. 

On September 11, 2001, Islamic extremists took the lives of thousands of innocent Americans to protest the presence of American troops on their soil and the dominance of Western powers as a whole. They abused Islam and manipulated the laws of their religion to justify their unjustifiable actions. Daisy Khan explained that these men not only hijacked planes, they hijacked her religion. Consequently, today, Muslims are the group of individuals who are being challenged, discriminated against, and treated inhumanely. When will it stop? Our similarities as human beings trump the insignificant differences found amongst our religions, cultures, and ethnicities. What will it take for people across the world to not only understand, but embrace this? 

Today I saw that Martin Luther King Jr., one of our leading figures in the fight for civil rights in the United States and throughout the world, said “every nation must now develop an overriding loyalty to mankind as a whole in order to preserve the best in their individual societies.” So, contrary to Hitler’s teachings, only when we learn to understand, accept, and work with one another will our society achieve greatness.

--Angela Farren, Lehigh University

I was again so proud of the eight women on this journey. Today, at American University, they were asked what they had learned from the program. For each student, the question had multiple, earnest, heartfelt answers. 

Some talked about what they had learned of their own country and people. Some discussed the impact on their religious beliefs. Some talked about the deep intellectual benefits and the knowledge they had gained of other cultures and regions. Some described the intensity of the experience. Some cherished relationships that had developed. Some talked about how much they had learned about themselves.

I was awed by their eloquence and wished I had tape recorded it all. And I was struck by the revelation: There was no wrong answer. Each of these very bright women, over a long, intense month, has gained her own knowledge and found her own way.

--Jack Lule, Lehigh University