Yemen

My trip to Yemen was amazing. There is such a rich culture there, a culture that manifests itself in every tiny facet of existence. Everything from the shapes and colors of the windows to the traditional manners of dress bespoke a cultural heritage that was ancient and proud. The people seemed very content and at peace with their lives in Yemen, a kind of peace that can only come from feeling that everything is just as it should be. You get the sense that people truly understand that they have established a perfect and harmonious society, replete with the assurance of being in accord with the will of God. I think it is for this reason that the Middle East is so conservative of their traditions and so wary of a fast-paced, ever-changing and modernizing Western World. From the perspective of an average Yemeni, surely, America and Europe must seem to be lost, blindly stumbling about in a panicked quest for values, equality, and righteousness; all the while never finding it, all the while only becoming more chaotic and valueless int he process. One can understand, then, why a Yemeni woman may prefer to wear her concealing gowns when she goes into public, and why a Yemeni man may feel free to relax with his friends over some tea and maybe a few twigs of "ghat" and never yearn for anything more. What they have, they must feel, is just right.