Kids

I have to say that one thing I have been very impressed by here is the children. All of the children I have met so far have been considerably politer, more religious, more hard-working, and more innocent than their American counterparts. When this one seven year old heard that I had been in Karbala, she began rattling off ahadith about the merits of visiting Imam Husain (as). To say I was impressed would be an understatement.

The kids here also seem to follow the old American adage of being seen, not heard in adult company. I'm not sure whether it is considered odd in Syrian culture to pay much attention to children, or whether Syrians just consider children to be boring because there are so many of them, but since I do like to talk to kids I have been engaging a lot of them in conversation and have heard a lot of pleasantly refreshing perspectives.

So what is it that makes them this way? A more religious environment? A closer family structure? Less distractions? Whatever it is, we need to learn from it in America quickly because we all know we are losing 90% of our youth there.