I am taking this course in school where we are required to implement a nutrition intervention on different groups in the community. Ours is on a class of 4th graders. Today
we went there and we were asked to first introduce ourselves. When it was my turn, I told
them that I was from Iran and they all had a blank look on their faces
saying "Where the hell is Iran?!". None of them knew. I was expecting at least some of them recognizing where Iran was but I also felt good because this proved that these kids were not exposed to politics and news the way we had been as kids. (Their teacher also explained to me that they are still learning about the US and hadn't got to other countries yet.)
After a few minutes, somebody tapped on my shoulder. It was this little girl who had come up to me to tell me she knows where Iran is!
I said: "You do?!"
She nodded and said "do you wanna know how I know where it is?"
I said "sure, how?!"
- Because my family is from Israel!
- I said "oh, so you've heard of Iran because the two countries aren't getting along?" (I actually used the word "conflict" first and then realized I was talking to a kid and changed it to "not getting along" and she still was looking at me in a weird way, like she wasn't understanding what I was saying!)
- "No, because they are close!" matter of factly.
And then it hit me what being a "grown-up" has done to me. Well of course the two countries are close distance-wise! I felt both stupid and sad and even teared up a bit. We have been robbed of our childhood innocence. Our minds can twist a simple concept as proximity into "conflict"! Being close should be the only thing coming to mind when hearing "Iran and Israel" but it's amazing what the world of politics can do to you. And I felt bad because I was the one introducing the ugliness of the world to that kid! Poor thing! Poor me actually, when you come to think of it!
I said "sure, how?!"
- Because my family is from Israel!
- I said "oh, so you've heard of Iran because the two countries aren't getting along?" (I actually used the word "conflict" first and then realized I was talking to a kid and changed it to "not getting along" and she still was looking at me in a weird way, like she wasn't understanding what I was saying!)
- "No, because they are close!" matter of factly.
And then it hit me what being a "grown-up" has done to me. Well of course the two countries are close distance-wise! I felt both stupid and sad and even teared up a bit. We have been robbed of our childhood innocence. Our minds can twist a simple concept as proximity into "conflict"! Being close should be the only thing coming to mind when hearing "Iran and Israel" but it's amazing what the world of politics can do to you. And I felt bad because I was the one introducing the ugliness of the world to that kid! Poor thing! Poor me actually, when you come to think of it!
(By the way, if she had been, say from Jordan or Armenia, I would have thought "because they are close too" but no she had to be from Israel! Lucky me! :D )
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