The Function of Bodily Functions

As it turns out, we have a little garden club at work that consists of four of us young people. Discussion involves: "Why does Israel kill children?" "How can you think that Jesus drank wine?" "Music is the sound of Satan." "If you steal my brother's land I must defend him" And various other weird political and religious and personal topics.

So you have these intense topics of discussion and moments of political and religious tension, but that is not why I'm here. I am chilling in the Middle East for awhile mostly to work on humanizing the demonized. I lose a little hope in this endeavor when I hear my friend say that he was happy 9-11 happened because it wasn't people who died, but Americans, however much he says he's joking, or when my Muslim Egyptian co-workers all think its hilarious to pull a knife out of the kitchen and ululate while mock slitting the throat of my co-teacher. At these points I kinda can't help but laugh, but I also can't help but be a little concerned for the future of this world. I am once again reminded that while everyone seems to value peace, it doesn't just happen, the practice of it requires intense mental and spiritual strength, and some very personal need to see peace, there must be people and relationships and love involved for it to be pursued. And when these personal bonds are in place, the pursuit is still a very long, rocky, risky road to travel with your enemies.

But why I am here is to look at similarities, to look at humanity across the supposedly insurmountable divides of culture and religion, and to see something and to show something universal. I see this in humor, and the way that everyone laughs at a joke. I see this in the way that mothers carry around their babies and kiss them on the head, the way that fathers proudly walk their daughters around from age 3 - 23. I see this in the way that women are almost sleeping on their feet in the metro after a long day of work. I see it in the school girls giggling together about some new music, about the strange foreigner on the train, or about a cute boy. However, there is one way of humanizing others that never fails.

Have you ever wondered why exactly God created farts? or burps? or hiccups? What function could they possibly serve besides smelliness, discomfort, and embarrassment? I can tell you that I have never been more aware of the common bonds of the human race as when I hear an Egyptian woman fart, then see her subtly look around hoping that no one heard. Or when a burp bubbles up from an Egyptian man's stomach after a hastily consumed Iftar, only to be released right in your ear. Or perhaps when trying to explain what the word hiccups means to a Level 7 grammar class by demonstrating, resulting in the entire class of young Egyptian women in headscarves, a teenage boy, and an older man, crying from laughing so hard. Or when an Egyptian co-worker asks if you can smell what he did in the bathroom, with a mischevious little grin. In light of this, bodily functions like this, while usually thought of as unseemly, in my opinion are some of the most ingenious and beautiful parts of creation.

You who know me will find this hilarious I'm sure.

Oh and P.S. I have a new job / internship. I will be working for the Arab West Foundation

http://www.arabwestfoundation.com/

doing copy-editing and setting up an NGO in the US for this Dutch organization working on promoting understanding between Western and Arab and Muslim and Non-Muslim societies. O I can't get away from the Dutch mafia, however much I try. But I am super excited. I start after Aied.