9/10

It was nice to try to go to bed early last night. It seems that no matter how hard I try, by the time I am through writing about my day and talking with Max and Mother and Emily (all at different times!), it is after 11. 6:30 a.m. comes quickly after that! And I am STILL making it to work on time. And Nicci, I am eating breakfast every day.

Yesterday and today, I got to talk to my two cute little office mates, both progressive, smart young men with young families. I think both of them are close to Emily’s age – maybe one, I will call him Esman, is a couple of years older. Because yesterday was Sunday and because I was going to get to “go to church” via Skype that night, we talked about our respective religions. I had no idea that I knew so little about Islam, but I know very little about Islam. As Esman explained to me, the Koran talks about Jesus, and in order to be a Muslim, a person must believe in Jesus, not as the son of God, but as a prophet. They told me that God can’t have any relatives because He is God alone. And by the way, these men's English is very good, so I didn't misunderstand their conversation!

In keeping with my ideas about how Muslims view women, Esman told me that the Koran also tells of Mary’s virgin birth, and that because Mary was ridiculed and ostracized during her pregnancy, because no one believed that she was still a virgin, Jesus spoke when he was a baby to tell all around him that his mother was still pure. Esman told me that his mullah said that it isn’t really important to believe that the Baby Jesus talked, but that the Baby Jesus carried the truth of God’s power. Contrary to our Christian belief, Muslims believe that Mary kept her purity all her life, and that she never married.

They also believe that Jesus was not killed, but was taken to heaven by God and that someone else was killed instead. They also believe that that Jesus is coming back to earth someday. And that will be, as they called it, “Doomsday,” when we will have to answer for our iniquities.

Esman and Hasat were also telling me about the Muslim calendar, which is in the year 1390, I think, and their calendar is measured beginning when Mohammed, their prophet, left Mecca for Medina. Get this: He left with his friends under cover of darkness, on camels, heading out to save his life after being told about a threat. Doesn’t that sound familiar?

We also talked about sins. According to the Koran, these two young men told me, we commit two types of sins: those against God, which we have to take care of with God; and those against our fellow humans, which we are obligated to take care of with those against whom we have sinned. If we do not go to a person we have wronged and ask forgiveness, God will not forgive us, either.

We talked of angels, Abraham, Moses, our instructions about how to live life, and about why religions believe that they are the only true religion. Esman told me of his talking to an educated mullah – some are not educated – about why each religion believes it is “the one.” The mullah began with the idea that things happened in order of time. For instance, the Bible came before the Koran, and so to believe in Christianity with the Bible as inspired by God made perfect sense; however, when Mohammed was born and the Koran written, it was time for the people to follow Mohammed’s teachings. Esman pressed him, though, and asked how anyone who had been born in the United States, who saw radical Islam in action, could ever believe that it was a good religion. Eventually, he and the mullah came to terms with the idea that we all believe in the same God, and, the mullah said, belief in God is essential.

We also tried to figure out what the “seven skies” are. Apparently, the Koran talks about seven skies, and no one really can say what that means. The same mullah was talking about the seven skies not as real skies, but as an embodiment of the vastness of the universe – that we as humans have been to the moon, but not even to the edge of our solar system, so maybe those “skies” refer to the infinity we cannot comprehend in the universe, and therefore God, that surrounds us.

Hasat was a not quite as progressive in his thoughts, but was still accepting of not only me as a Christian, but with the idea that we are human and in this world together, to make it a better place for all of us here, regardless of what happens in the afterlife – although our descriptions of an afterlife, a heaven, were pretty much the same.

Isn’t all that interesting? I am hoping that as our relationship grows, we will be able to discuss the role of women in their lives. Esman’s mother had ten children, and Hasat is an only child. I can hardly wait to talk about their mothers and their wives and their households. I already know that Esman’s baby is 2½, and Hasat’s baby is brand new, but I want to know more. They were teasing each other about Hasat’s going to Esman’s house to eat dinner, and I told them that if I had a house, I would invite both their families to dinner. I could promise good food, but I would not cook a goat. I’ve heard that goat is good, but I am NOT going to try it here, and I certainly am not going to try to cook it at home, even for such vaunted guests. They thought that was funny.

So today, I got to talk to my students again, this time about discrimination. The Afghan Constitution has an article that guarantees equality for all people. They were discussing how though the Constitution talks about equality, that doesn’t always hold true. I got to talk to them about Plessy v. Ferguson, which said that in the United States, things such as schools could be segregated by race as long as they were “separate but equal,” and then about Brown v. Board of Education, which, some years later, completely annihilated the “separate but equal” doctrine. I told them how, even after that decision, the President of the United States had to force the governor of Arkansas to allow black students to go to a formerly all-white school.

I talked about how in the United States, the Equal Rights Amendment would not be passed or ratified. And I talked about the Bakke case, which was being decided when I went to law school in 1978. That was the case that gave rise to the idea of reverse discrimination, when a white male was turned away from medical school in favor of a person who was qualified but a minority. And then I talked about my experience, six years later, when I was told by the Personnel department at Yellow Freight (it wasn’t even called HR then) that while it would be a good idea for Yellow Freight to have a woman lawyer SOMETIME, that time wasn’t then.

Very astutely, they questioned how the situations could be so different – a white man getting passed over in favor of a woman, and then a woman turned away in favor of a man. That was when I talked about how no one likes change, and that as a result, real and lasting change takes a long time, and that it is important that we do our jobs well, that we are the agents of change in our societies to try to make them better places. I also told them that it is difficult to strike a fair balance, but that we have to keep trying to find that balance so everything is as fair as possible for as many people as possible.

One man wanted to know whether I thought the US Constitution was better than theirs. I told him the truth – that they had many of the same provisions, but because when our Supreme Court makes decisions regarding the Constitution, those cases are written down, and we can read them and try to make sense of them. In Afghanistan, there is no case management system that provides for recording written decisions on questions of Constitutional law, so it is more difficult to understand what the law is. That is one of the things that my company is trying to help establish – a case management system that will record cases’ results and make sure that those convicted are released at the appropriate time – so no one gets lost in prison.

All in all, they were receptive and a good audience – except for three of them, who weren’t there last time, and who behaved like some of my students in class, and many of my defendants in court – whispering, snickering, and things such as that. I guess every crowd has some.

After work today, I went to the gym to do my two miles. I found a place to lie – on a bench, and not on the Filthy McNasty floor – so I could do some leg lifts, but I am still too embarrassed to lift weights among all these behemoths who are very muscular. I don’t want to give them anything to laugh about after I leave – or worse, while I’m still there!

Then I started planning my Thanksgiving trip home. We have to apply for leave and give trip plans 60 days in advance. That is NEXT WEEK! The good news is that I will not need to take any luggage home because I will be sending winter clothes back. I am going to be on a plane for a long time, and this time, I think I will go through Paris. I expect by the time I come home for good, I will have flown through all of Europe’s major airports. I haven’t been to the cities, but I will have been at their airports!

Tomorrow is Arlen Joy’s birthday, and although I know he probably doesn’t know about my blog, if any reader sees him, please tell him to have a good birthday. It’s also the infamous 9/11, and so I don’t think we will be doing much. I am and will be safe, but it won’t hurt if some of you decide to send up a prayer for not only me, but also for the other, really brave people here who want to be an instrument of good in their country, and those in uniform, and those in civilian clothing, who are here trying to help them achieve it.