In addition to being a small farm town, there is a fairly high military enlistment rate in our area. This is very important, because for most in my community the only time they go abroad is when they are sent through the military. This has the effect that people were drafted in Vietnam, sent to the Middle East for the Gulf Wars, and then in 2003 for the Iraq war. The men and women, but mostly men, who served in the Iraq war had sons and daughters close to my age in school; my peers only heard about the negative effects that the Middle East had on their families, and that is how their opinion of the region developed.
A picture of our family farm
A boy in my grade during middle school is actually the person who made me interested in the Middle East and the Islamic faith. He made multiple comments about "towel-heads" and other negative names for Muslim men in the Middle East. His father was deployed in Afghanistan and Iraq, which tore his family apart. While the boy's opinions were just rehashing of his parent's words, it established a negative attitude about Muslims and the Middle East with many of his friends, and then many students in our grade and school.
Through these negative words and thoughts, Muslims and those of Arab descent are major "outsiders" in our community who are looked down upon. Studying the Middle East in college, I am constantly asked by my friends at home what it's like and why I would ever want to study in the region. Hopefully this can change at some point, I would like to see my friends love the region as much as I do - at least not hate it anymore.
Photo credit: me
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