Change

I got to thinking when I came in here about all the things I have heard and seen in the news about how the people in Iraq can live a better life now and learn a new way of life. What I want to know is how do you change when you only know one way of life?

I learn most of what I know about history and other countries not from school books but from my romance and historical romance novels. In one of my favorites, Sweet Revenge by Nora Roberts , a girl is born of an Islam King and a Western woman. At the age of 5 she learns that men can have whatever they want at whatever cost and that no one can do anything about it after witnessing her father rape her mother. The only reason her mother sticks around is because she is afraid that the King will take her daughter from her and divorce her after not being able to give him any sons and ending up hating her and himself for marrying a Western woman and out of his race. Anyway when Adrianne is 8 her mother gets her chance to take her away from her father when they get to go to Paris. Adrianne hates her father so much after her mother gets super ill and they find out why and he won't help finacially that she becomes a second-story thief to pay the Dr. and hospitals bills. 20 years after she has left her Islam home she returns with a guy that she meets to steal her fathers most precious prize from him. Anyway my point here is that when in Islam again Adrianne's male friend notices that the country is open to change and that the women can now wear jeans and sneakers but still have to wear the black robes and can not show any skin and questions it. He is told that they have chosen to stay this way. It's not written law but is chosen.

The point here is in this book the women chose to not change to much but get the advantages of going to school and wearing jeans and sneakers and such. How do you change? Do you choose to change or not to change?

Em

I think it is hard for us to tell since we have had freedoms and know what differences are like, so I can only make an assumption.

I think you can only change over time. If you spent a huge part of you life doing something, it will be harder for you to let go. Yet future generations could slowly change and start to open up to these customs because they wouldn't have grown up with these customs.

So I think that change is something that someone def. has to do themselves if they get the choice to. I mean, if they are forced to change then that is different but if they have the freedom to do what they wish then only they can really exercise this choice

If wearing a veil/robes is part of their beliefs, part of Islam, then if they always follow Islam then perhaps they will never change.

Plus, maybe women there need someone to lead them. It wouldn't surprise me if women who didn't wear veils would get funny looks for appearing differently.