© damonlynch / Flickr

This photo is of a little boy in a mosque on Friday. I thought it was lovely so I thought I would share.

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I was curious to know a few things about my sister that I had always pondered about. I was not very surprised by most of her answers until I asked her “Who is your role model? The one person you look up to and want to be like one day?” While her other answers showed her intelligence and her confidence in what she knows, I was really taken by the way she chose to answer this specific question. She started by saying “Umm, I really like Miley Cyrus…but I don’t like her singing…just the way she dresses…” She stopped for a minute and then she continued: “Did you know she was only 15 when she became really famous?”

I had to stop myself before I completely exploded with fury towards her opinion. I thought about how while I was growing up in Saudi Arabia, I was taught that the only role models I should have in my life; the only people that I was supposed to be influenced by were the women that made a difference in the history of Islam, such as the women of the Prophet Muhammad’s household, his wives and daughters. These were the women who served Allah and their community with bravery and wisdom, who tried to make a difference through learning, teaching, nursing, and other important activities.

I knew better than to spoil the moment and instantly lecture my sister. Plus, I knew that she wasn’t the one to blame. I am not exactly sure who is to blame, but I realize that compared to the exposure we have towards movie stars and celebrities, there is a lack of exposure towards certain historical role models in our educational system. I thought about the situation my sister would be in if she was asked the same question in front of her classmates by a non-Muslim teacher. What would the teacher’s response be if my sister said “my role model is the Prophet Muhammad “? And what kind of explanation would my sister offer? I do believe that I’m responsible to educate my siblings about the important figures in Islam and I strongly felt the urge to begin doing so right after I had this talk with my sister.

I am not saying that now-a-days we lack beneficial role models, nor am I trying to be judgmental about little kids’ mentalities. I just think that if we start by educating young kids about Islam in depth and gaining more knowledge ourselves, we will be able to have confidence in the personalities that we are developing in the midst of growing up. And who knows? Maybe after sharing what we’ve learned about the great role models that we can look up to, we’ll be able to influence someone into realizing that Islam is the most beautiful religion followed and celebrated by many people around the world!

When Palestinian children make the news, it’s often–let’s face it–because they’ve died. A combination of “no news is good news” reporting and the simple sadness of everyday life in Israel and Palestine create a bleak portrait for those of us trying to follow the everyday lives of relatives, friends, or even strangers. So what are children from Gaza doing on the news, if they’ve escaped unharmed?

They’ve broken a world record–the most kites flown in the air simultaneously in the same location, to be exact. Thousands of children from the Gaza strip gathered along a beach in the north of the region, in hopes of shattering the previous record of just over 700. But this isn’t just about a world record–this event reveals more about the situation in Gaza than it might seem at first glance. So what’s the big deal?

1) No inspector from the Guinness Book of World Records was sent to verify the claim for “security issues”. Sure, we all knew things weren’t safe in that region of the world. But this really does demonstrate what constitutes as “safe” relative to where you live–five thousand children gathering on a beach without incident is a giant leap forward for the Palestinians, but it was deemed too hazardous for one adult European inspector to verify the world record. Indeed, what constitutes “life as usual” in the Strip still seems to outsiders as life on the edge. While the calm is nice for now, there is still so much progress to be made.

2) Five thousand children gathered as part of a summer program in Gaza–and no rockets were fired. Due to Palestine’s “third world” status, the population tends to skew young. There are just as many kids as there are adults, and they need an education in hopes of being mobile and having their voices heard. The United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) sponsors, along with its usual school-year fare, a summer program to get Palestinian children engaged with their education in the off-season. Education in Palestine has gotten a bad rep thanks to documentaries such as “Promises”, which tend to paint schools, internationally funded or not, as crumbling propaganda factories. The kite-flying was sponsored by a non-governmental organization (NGO), but was a peaceful affair simply to motivate kids and break a record. Moral of the story? Palestinians outside of the government recognize that their youth need to be engaged, and have the skills and know-how to pull off a successful program on a community level. (The real stunt is going to be pulling this off at the ballot box.)

On the surface, though, it’s a beautiful image: thousands of children from a war-torn area lifting homemade kites to the sky in hopes of having their voices heard–and for the joy of time spent in peace.

And as always, good press certainly doesn’t hurt, either.