The Thing About Being Jeddahwi
In Jeddah, I had the privilege (or the curse, according to the elders) of being part of a circle of open-minded young people who can discuss and accept non-Jeddahwi concepts, such as being non-Muslim, non-male/female, non-conservative, non-traditional, non-Arab, non-Saudi, non-whatever WE were. Being outside of Jeddah as that person means complications – I'm so open-minded, why am I, deep down inside, such a traditionally Jeddahwi chick? This double-think, these double standards, are so alien to people in the free world. So hypocritical. The truth is that however open I am, there are major parts of who I am that believes in the culture of Saudi/Jeddah. My ideals on Respect, Love, Acceptance – they are all Jeddahwi. I can adapt to different cultures because of where I'm from. I can respect anyone's close-minded culture because of how I was raised. I can understand people and their demons because of Jeddah. If there was any place, any time, when you can have a group...