According to the United Nations\u2019 most recent estimates, the current world population sits roughly at 7.7 billion people. Interestingly enough, studies show that within the average person\u2019s lifetime, we will only meet about 80,000 of those 7.7 billion people, and most of those people we won\u2019t even remember. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
According to the United Nations\u2019 most recent estimates, the\ncurrent world population sits roughly at 7.7 billion people. Interestingly\nenough, studies show that within the average person\u2019s lifetime, we will only\nmeet about 80,000 of them, and most we won\u2019t even remember. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now in a populace of such hefty size, there are bound to be\nhordes of people who disagree with each other, who don\u2019t understand each other,\nand who believe in fundamentally different things. Yet if simply having\ndifferent philosophies of life was strong enough to divide humanity\nirreparably, then we would have surely died out long ago. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Instead, mankind has constantly proved that having drastically\ndiverse viewpoints does not have to hinder works of kindness, cooperation, and\npeace. Much of this can be achieved merely by being willing to hear the story\nof people who are different than you, learning about their perspectives, their\nexperiences and reasoning; and, in the end, offer respect and understanding\nover who is right or wrong.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It is for that purpose that McMurry University brought famed\nwriter and interfaith activist, Mohammed Al Samawi, to speak to both the\ncommunity of Abilene as well as McMurry\u2019s freshman class. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Al Samawi is a refugee from Yemen who escaped from his\nwar-torn country through the help of his friends, specifically people of\ndifferent backgrounds, faiths, and ethnicities. He wrote about his experiences\nin his book The Fox Hunt: A Refugee\u2019s Memoir of Coming to America <\/em>which\nrevealed how Samawi\u2019s interfaith work acted as an unexpected aid to saving his\nlife.<\/p>\n\n\n\n What Al Samawi went through is something that many people at\nMcMurry would have never experienced, making him an ideal voice to bring to the\nuniversity. \u201cA few years ago Dr. Eboo Patel came to campus and spoke about\ninterfaith dialogue. He made us [the university] realize how many of these\nfreshman came into college not having known many people different from them;\nbut, when they go out into the workplace, then they will<\/em> interact with\npeople of different beliefs, ethnicities, etc.,\u201d said Sociology professor Dr.\nJori Sechrist. \u201cMcMurry hopes to provide\nopportunities for these sort of interactions. One of the things I really liked\nabout Al Samawi\u2019s book is that it engages so many different world views and\ndemonstrates the positive things that can come from interacting with people who\ndon\u2019t necessarily believe the same things you do.\u201d \u00ad\u00ad<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sechrist hopes that McMurry can bring in a speaker such as\nAl Samawi to inspire students on our campus in several ways. By bringing in\nspeakers of different faiths and backgrounds, students will be more prepared to\nengage in a diverse world after graduation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Dr. Mark Waters, professor of religion, stated similarly\nthat, \u201cHaving speakers like Mohammed helps us to examine the world from a\ndifferent perspective, which is important so that we are better equipped to\nwork with people different from us. In addition, I would hope that Mohammed\u2019s\nvisit can help to make some students to be more open-minded, to inspire\nstudents to become activists, and, of course, just to learn.\u201d Both professors worked\nbehind-the-scenes in bringing Mohammed Al Samawi to McMurry University, along\nwith many other faculty and staff. Student involvement was crucial as well, as\nthe members of McMurry\u2019s Interfaith group, Better Together Alliance,\nfacilitated Al Samawi\u2019s visit. <\/p>\n\n\n\n McMurry wanted the entire freshman class to receive a copy\nof Al Samawi\u2019s book, so that they could have a shared experience and an easily accessible\nopportunity to explore the point-of-view of someone dissimilar. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Mohammed spoke three times during his visit to McMurry. His\nfirst talk, \u201cBuilding Bridges: Interfaith Dialogue Across the Islamic, Jewish,\nand Christian Communities,\u201d shared the story of his escape and self-discovery\nto the general public of Abilene. The following day he shared his story once\nagain, but with words specifically aimed at McMurry\u2019s freshman class. Called\n\u201cCollaboration and Teamwork to Accomplish the Impossible,\u201d Mohammed\u2019s testimony\nwas meant for the ears of the burgeoning, young college students, perhaps those\nthat have not met someone very different to them, and who could walk away from this\nencounter with new thoughts spinning in their heads. Lastly, Mohammed held a\nQ&A session during chapel where he discussed his thoughts on immigration as\nsomeone who sought asylum here in America. <\/p>\n\n\n\n During his presentations, Mohammed told the tale of himself\nas a young Yemenese man, who had never met a Jewish or Christian person, but\nwas willing and eager to learn about cultures and religions that he didn\u2019t\nfully understand. It is because of Al Samawi\u2019s initiative to seek understanding\nacross boundaries and histories stained with violence and hatred that led to\nhim being saved from death by those very same people he used to know few good\nthings about. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Although he began his foray into interfaith work with little\nknowledge and many awkward interactions, he soon found himself forming bonds\nwith people he was taught to hate. Unfortunately, when Al Samawi tried to\nspread his love for interfaith, his life was threatened, and he was forced to\nflee in order to protect his family. Danger didn\u2019t leave his side when he\neventually found himself trapped in his own apartment and his fellow Shi\u2019ite\nMuslims being hunted down and slaughtered by extremist groups. Desperate, Al\nSamawi reached out on Facebook to the people he had connected with through\ninterfaith. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Thankfully, they were ready to help, and thus followed many\ntrials and tribulations as people across the world tried to get Al Samawi to\nsafety, despite the multitude of obstacles in the way. Mohammed eventually left\nbehind his home. The last image he saw was his country in flames because of air\nstrikes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When he finally touched down on American soil with no\nluggage, dirty clothes, and a business class ticket, he ate his first American\nmeal at KFC, and from then on began to spread his testimony across the nation\nto anyone who would hear. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Throughout Mohammed\u2019s escape from Yemen, he received help\nfrom people from different parts of the world who didn\u2019t even know Mohammed\nwas, but their combined efforts resulted in his safety and the spreading of his\nstory to thousands of people. It is a powerful demonstration of how even the\nmost contrasting differences amongst people do not have to keep them from\nbecoming close, from working together, and creating something more than the\ndivisions that could potentially keep them apart. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Although the events that occurred during his escape were\nharrowing and horrific to think about, Mohammed Al Samawi still felt that he\nneeded to tell his story. He said that he wrote his book in order to teach four\nlessons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Primarily, there\u2019s no\nshame in being different. It is what defines you from everyone else. Al Samawi resented\na disability he had that affected his right arm and leg and excluded him from\nplaying with the other children, but that disability had its own advantages,\nsuch as becoming a reason to connect with people with disabilities thousands of\nmiles away. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Second, the small things matter. The little things Al\nSamawi\u2019s friends were doing to help resulted in an amazing operation that rescued\nhim from danger. Third, not everything you learn from your university or church\nis the absolute truth. Go out and learn for yourself and experience it\nfirsthand. Al Samawi did exactly that when he was young and, as a result,\nformed irreplaceable relationships. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Lastly, Mohammed wanted his book to spread awareness on the\nwar and violence happening in Yemen. The people there still suffer to this day,\nincluding Al Samawi\u2019 s own family who have been without electricity for years. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Mohammed Al Samawi, since his arrival in the United States,\nhas been able to spread his story across the nation by speaking at dinners,\nuniversities, and various other organizations. Unfortunately, his words were\nnot always met with welcoming arms, and he has had his fair share of unpleasant\noccurrences with people who did not understand or agree with his message. <\/p>\n\n\n\n However, he has also had many great incidents where people\nhave reflected on his words and were both touched and inspired by his story. Hopefully,\nthe students of McMurry will become motivated as well, whether it is to\nreconsider their own prejudices as Mohammed did, or to rise up and become their\nown interfaith activists. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Regardless, McMurry is an institution that seeks to broaden\nthe minds of their students, so that they can be the best they can be, and it\nis why McMurry will continue to bring people from all over the world to tell\ntheir stories, in hopes that those stories will light a fire in a promising\nmind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Now in a populace of such hefty size, there are bound to be\nhordes of people who disagree with each other, who don\u2019t understand each other,\nwho believe in fundamentally different things, and yet if simply having\ndifferent philosophies of life was strong enough to divide humanity\nirreparably, then we would have surely died out long ago. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Instead, mankind has constantly proved that having drastically\ndiverse viewpoints does not have to hinder works of kindness, cooperation, and\npeace. Much of this can be achieved merely by being willing to hear the story\nof people who are different than you, learning about their perspectives, their\nexperiences and reasoning; and, in the end, offer respect and understanding\nover who is right or wrong.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It is for that purpose that McMurry University brought famed\nwriter and interfaith activist, Mohammed Al Samawi, to speak to both the\ncommunity of Abilene as well as McMurry\u2019s freshman class. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Al Samawi is a refugee from Yemen who escaped from his\nwar-torn country through the help of his friends, specifically people of\ndifferent backgrounds, faiths, and ethnicities. Al Samawi wrote about his\nexperiences in his book The Fox Hunt: A Refugee\u2019s Memoir of Coming to\nAmerica <\/em>which revealed how Samawi\u2019s interfaith work acted as an unexpected aid\nto saving his life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n What Al Samawi went through is something that many people at\nMcMurry would have never experienced, making him an ideal voice to bring to the\nuniversity. \u201cA few years ago Dr. Eboo Patel came to campus and spoke about\ninterfaith dialogue. He made us [the university] realize how many of these\nfreshman came into college not having known many people different from them;\nbut, when they go out into the workplace, then they will<\/em> interact with\npeople of different beliefs, ethnicities, etc.,\u201d said Sociology professor Dr.\nJori Sechrist. \u201cMcMurry hopes to provide\nopportunities for these sort of interactions. One of the things I really liked\nabout Al Samawi\u2019s book is that it engages so many different world views and\ndemonstrates the positive things that can come from interacting with people who\ndon\u2019t necessarily believe the same things you do.\u201d \u00ad\u00ad<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sechrist hopes that McMurry can bring in a speaker such as\nAl Samawi to inspire students on our campus in several ways. By bringing in\nspeakers of different faiths and backgrounds, students will be more prepared to\nengage in a diverse world after graduation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Dr. Mark Waters, professor of religion, stated similarly\nthat, \u201cHaving speakers like Mohammed helps us to examine the world from a\ndifferent perspective, which is important so that we are better equipped to\nwork with people different from us. In addition, I would hope that Mohammed\u2019s\nvisit can help to make some students to be more open-minded, to inspire\nstudents to become activists, and, of course, just to learn.\u201d Both professors worked\nbehind-the-scenes in bringing Mohammed Al Samawi to McMurry University, along\nwith many other faculty and staff. Student involvement was crucial as well, as\nthe members of McMurry\u2019s Interfaith group, Better Together Alliance,\nfacilitated Al Samawi\u2019s visit. <\/p>\n\n\n\n McMurry wanted the entire freshman class to receive a copy\nof Al Samawi\u2019s book, so that they could have a shared experience and an easily\naccessible opportunity to explore the point-of-view of someone dissimilar. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Mohammed spoke three times during his visit to McMurry. His\nfirst talk, \u201cBuilding Bridges: Interfaith Dialogue Across the Islamic, Jewish,\nand Christian Communities,\u201d shared the story of his escape and self-discovery\nto the general public of Abilene. The following day he shared his story once\nagain, but with words specifically aimed at McMurry\u2019s freshman class. Called\n\u201cCollaboration and Teamwork to Accomplish the Impossible,\u201d Mohammed\u2019s testimony\nwas meant for the ears of the burgeoning, young college students, perhaps those\nthat have not met someone very different to them, and who could walk away from this\nencounter with new thoughts spinning in their heads. Lastly, Mohammed held a\nQ&A session during chapel where he discussed his thoughts on immigration as\nsomeone who sought asylum here in America. <\/p>\n\n\n\n During his presentations, Mohammed told the tale of himself\nas a young Yemenese man, who had never met a Jewish or Christian person, but\nwas willing and eager to learn about cultures and religions that he didn\u2019t\nfully understand. It is because of Al Samawi\u2019s initiative to seek understanding\nacross boundaries and histories stained with violence and hatred that led to\nhim being saved from death by those very same people he used to know few good\nthings about. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Although he began his foray into interfaith work with little\nknowledge and many awkward interactions, he soon found himself forming bonds\nwith people he was taught to hate. Unfortunately, when Al Samawi tried to\nspread his love for interfaith, his life was threatened, and he was forced to\nflee in order to protect his family. Danger didn\u2019t leave his side when he\neventually found himself trapped in his own apartment and his fellow Shi\u2019ite\nMuslims being hunted down and slaughtered by extremist groups. Desperate, Al\nSamawi reached out on Facebook to the people he had connected with through\ninterfaith. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Thankfully, they were ready to help, and thus followed many\ntrials and tribulations as people across the world tried to get Al Samawi to\nsafety, despite the multitude of obstacles in the way. Mohammed eventually left\nbehind his home. The last image he saw was his country in flames because of air\nstrikes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When he finally touched down on American soil with no\nluggage, dirty clothes, and a business class ticket, he ate his first American\nmeal at KFC, and from then on began to spread his testimony across the nation\nto anyone who would hear. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Throughout Mohammed\u2019s escape from Yemen, he received help\nfrom people from different parts of the world who didn\u2019t even know Mohammed\nwas, but their combined efforts resulted in his safety and the spreading of his\nstory to thousands of people. It is a powerful demonstration of how even the\nmost contrasting differences amongst people do not have to keep them from\nbecoming close, from working together, and creating something more than the\ndivisions that could potentially keep them apart. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Although the events that occurred during his escape were\nharrowing and horrific to think about, Mohammed Al Samawi still felt that he\nneeded to tell his story. He said that he wrote his book in order to teach four\nlessons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Primarily, there\u2019s no\nshame in being different. It is what defines you from everyone else. Al Samawi resented\na disability he had that affected his right arm and leg and excluded him from\nplaying with the other children, but that disability had its own advantages,\nsuch as becoming a reason to connect with people with disabilities thousands of\nmiles away. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Second, the small things matter. The little things Al\nSamawi\u2019s friends were doing to help resulted in an amazing operation that rescued\nhim from danger. Third, not everything you learn from your university or church\nis the absolute truth. Go out and learn for yourself and experience it\nfirsthand. Al Samawi did exactly that when he was young and, as a result,\nformed irreplaceable relationships. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Lastly, Mohammed wanted his book to spread awareness on the\nwar and violence happening in Yemen. The people there still suffer to this day,\nincluding Al Samawi\u2019 s own family who have been without electricity for years. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Mohammed Al Samawi, since his arrival in the United States,\nhas been able to spread his story across the nation by speaking at dinners,\nuniversities, and various other organizations. Unfortunately, his words were\nnot always met with welcoming arms, and he has had his fair share of unpleasant\noccurrences with people who did not understand or agree with his message. <\/p>\n\n\n\n However, he has also had many great incidents where people\nhave reflected on his words and were both touched and inspired by his story. Hopefully,\nthe students of McMurry will become motivated as well, whether it is to\nreconsider their own prejudices as Mohammed did, or to rise up and become their\nown interfaith activists. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Regardless, McMurry is an institution that seeks to broaden\nthe minds of their students, so that they can be the best they can be, and it\nis why McMurry will continue to bring people from all over the world to tell\ntheir stories, in hopes that those stories will light a fire in a promising\nmind.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" According to the United Nations\u2019 most recent estimates, the current world population sits roughly at 7.7 billion people. Interestingly enough, studies show that within the average person\u2019s lifetime, we will […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":158,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-147","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","clearfix"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/blogs.mcm.edu\/herald\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/AlSamawi.jpeg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.mcm.edu\/herald\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/147","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.mcm.edu\/herald\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.mcm.edu\/herald\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.mcm.edu\/herald\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.mcm.edu\/herald\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=147"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.mcm.edu\/herald\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/147\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":169,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.mcm.edu\/herald\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/147\/revisions\/169"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.mcm.edu\/herald\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/158"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.mcm.edu\/herald\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=147"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.mcm.edu\/herald\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=147"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.mcm.edu\/herald\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=147"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}