Diversity

The diverse cultures that I encountered at the University of Texas at Austin made the world seem larger than what it had previously had seemed. Being raised in an ultra-orthodox Christian home sheltered me from the different religions and cultures that the world has to offer. For the first time in my life I met Egyptian Jews, Muslims and Armenians, along with Israeli Arabs and a couple of Palestinian Christians.

As an officer in the Arab Student Association I dealt with an even larger number of foreign exchange students from the Gulf and a lot of students of Syrian or Palestinian descent. In the University setting, religion did not come in the way of being a leader in a Pan-Arab organization, unlike our homeland where religion is a major consideration for upward mobility. Although there was a Coptic Student Organization on campus, it was not appealing to me because it was centered on the church, not around the student.

Egypt was once a land where Jews, Christians and Muslims worked and lived together in the same areas. An Egyptian-Armenian, whose parents had immigrated to Switzerland following Nasser’s nationalization of industries, told me that her parents “lived in a country unparalleled in the world, one that was both cosmopolitan and parochial.” An Egyptian-Jew told me “there was a time in which I could consider myself as an Egyptian, but that time has passed.” The rise of Islamic extremism in Egypt has divided this once cosmopolitan country, pitting devout Muslims against secular Christians and Muslims. We should be weary of this trend and fight against it.