Tonight's driver hails from Basra, Iraq. He got a degree in English (British) Literature from an Arabic teacher. He spent a few years working as an interpreter for the US Navy, which means he got preferential treatment when he applied for a Green Card here in the US, it only took him two days. He had high hopes when he came to the US, but he's been here several years and has become resigned to his lot which is working as a security guard 3 days a week and driving for Lyft the other 4.
When I asked him which were crazier, the Iraqis or the Iranians, he said "that is a good question", but there is no answer because they are equally crazy. 90% of the population of Iraq is Muslim, half are Sunni's, who get their direction from Iran, and the other half are Shiites, who get their direction from Saudi Arabia. Or maybe it's the other way around, I can never keep it straight.
When I read the news reports about all the refugees trying to get out of the middle East and into Europe, I am thinking why don't they stay at home and fix their own problems. And then I run into a guy like this and I realize that a few rational people have no hope of bringing law and order to any of these insane-i-lands. Maybe if we put Chevron in charge things would change. Maybe even for the better.
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I enjoyed our stay in Istanbul. It was a immersion into a muslim society. I liked it.
It was a refreshing hocus-pocus counterpoint to the tiresome chistianity.
1) the daily calls to prayer. You are not the center of the universe, pause, contemplate your existence.
2) the geometric designs on the interior of mosques is pleasantly neutral. Not of weird looking freakish aliens nor corpses dripping blood
3) emphasis on cleanliness, removing shoes, washing of feet
4) less alcholol, means less pissing in street, less trash, less aberrant behaviour
5) women dress discretely, normally, tastefully. Less distracting than the in-your-face-come-fuck-me-marketing fashion statements seen in Christian countries.
Staying in a Muslim country was a revelation for me.
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