Damascene Thoughts: Syrian Chicagoans Protesting for Syria

Saturday, April 23, 2011

Posted by abulyas at 4:27 PM

abulyas: I'm a Syrian-American who is growing tired of this "looming" question of identity - especially the hyphenated type. I have recently come to realize that I'm above this issue (due to my humanity and not a claim to an intellectual sophistication). It is not a pressing need for me to reconcile my Islam, or being Arab, or coming from an important pillar of the "Axis of Evil" with my western values and being "American". I understand what it means to be either and am capable of adapting to the dictates of the current culture. I find these contextual demands superficial and secondary to the shared core values of the seemingly clashing identities.