Yankee by Birth, Rebel by Choice???

Seems like an appropriate title for such a post. Anyway, I’ve been rather complacent about blogging as of late, mostly due to my little adventures I’ve been having here in the Deep South. It’s been feeling more and more like home. I love Upstate South Carolina, and Western North Carolina. In general, if there is one thing that I am almost 100% sure about at this point, I love the Carolinas.

Thanksgiving this year was rather different. Instead of the usual ‘get up at noon and be lazy and enjoy yummy Thanksgiving dinner’ routine, I led a Thanksgiving dinner handout drive, called “Feed the Thousands” at Greer Relief and Resources Agency. Let me tell you, it was intense! Originally, there were plans to feed 100 people with boxed dinners prepared by a chef at Loaves and Fishes, with breads, sweets, apples, and potatoes being distributed. We ran out of food within the first half hour, and had to turn away a line of people. Thankfully, there was a church within walking distance that was also providing hot Thanksgiving dinners. I know for a fact that after helping out the less fortunate of Greer and the surrounding areas, I was able to better appreciate all of the wonderful Thanksgiving dinners that I was able to have while growing up. Working with the poor really puts life into perspective. I am in great debt to my wonderful volunteers who helped me put on this event! I think we make a smiling bunch, don’t you?

Dedicated Volunteers Helping a Community in Need

For those of you who were wondering what Tariq did on Thanksgiving night, wonder no more! I had dinner at my boss’ house, where I got to meet her wonderful family, and enjoy a real good Southern-style Thanksgiving (Candied Squash and Collard Greens?!?! Yummers!), followed by a fun conversation about cameras with Bill Tyler (Caroline’s father…who knows more about cameras than I could ever hope to know!). Up until last year (when I had Thanksgiving with Laura Sandberg’s intensely funny and awesome family), I typically enjoyed an Indian-style Thanksgiving during my youth, which consisted of a turkey stuffed with Indian-spiced stuffing, followed by a lot of Indian-American fusion dishes. However, after this awesome experience in South Carolina with the Robertson/Tyler family this past Thanksgiving, I have to give this two thumbs up!

Another thing I was able to do this past week was drive down to Columbia, South Carolina, better known as the capital city of the state and America’s sauna (the 95 F averages during the summer months followed by the humidity level being absolutely insane makes it feel much, much hotter). There, I took a tour of the medical school campus, specifically Richland County Memorial Hospital, guided by a fourth year medical student with other prospective pre-medical students (first time I’ve ever used that term to describe myself). Overall, a beautiful hospital—I could see myself happy at USC, especially with the option of getting to do my third and fourth year rotations in Greenville. I’m excited about the interview coming up!

The best part of this trip was definitely having lunch with the Young sisters. The funny part about this story is that I had lunch with them separately at the same restaurant: Ruby Tuesday’s (A good place to enjoy moderately priced American dining. They serve a wonderful Turkey Avocado Burger which is my favorite item on the menu.). Since Bahiyyih was in a training session until 12:30 and Elizabeth had work at the Hobby Lobby at 1:00, Elizabeth and I met first at Ruby Tuesday’s for lunch, where we ordered our food and had an intensely interesting conversation, talking about her time at Berea College in Kentucky (awesome, awesome, awesome college. I LOVE their philosophy!), Green Acre, and of course, “why in the heck did I come to South Carolina of all possible places?” I told her that the first time I saw her picture was on Leif Nabíl Segen’s facebook profile when I was facebook-stalking him and it was of her drinking through a straw. I had to re-create that image. BAM!

Leif’s Picture of Elizabeth

Drinking Through a Straw. BAM!

About two minutes after Elizabeth left for work, Bahiyyih showed up for lunch. Needless to say, this also was an intensely interesting conversation, filled with a variety of topics. We talked about her work, my work, the community in Minnesota, the community in South Carolina, and most interestingly, Southern culture, specifically, Gone With the Wind (a masterpiece novel and film, and why it’s on the banned books list for my high school in Minnesota and why it’s read in high schools across the Southern United States). Here is a picture commemorating the event, meeting, and conversation all rolled up into one.

All smiles.

Since I’ve heard so many good things about the Young sisters, both in Minnesota and in the Upstate, I definitely had been anticipating this meeting for a while. Needless to say, all of my previous expectations were surpassed. The truth is, it seems like every single person I’ve come across in South Carolina is that way….warm, friendly, talkative, and genuinely interested in your well-being. Cozy and home-like, if you would. Caroline tells me that she needs to get me one of them bumper stickers that says, “Yankee by birth, Rebel by choice” to put on the back of my car. BAM!

Not Just Another Sidewalk Quote…And Other Stuff

What do yah do when you’re faced with a little bit of adversity? You look at the sidewalk and hope that it tells you something. I found this to be particularly helpful a week or so ago while walking through Downtown Greenville. Here’s what I saw:

Cause Adversity Introduces a Man to Himself.

Pretty fitting, eh? Well, the past couple of weeks have given me some insight as to what I’m doing and why I’m here in Greenville County, South Carolina. I thought about my first two months working for Greer Relief and Resources Agency. I’ve thought a lot about how far I’ve come and how much further I have to go on this endless journey some call life. I see little tidbits of my old self in the mirror from time to time. A relevant example of this in my life would be whenever two people are engaged in a heated political discussion and I have the urge to jump in and interject my opinion. I remember that my Covenant with God takes precedent over my perceived political opinions about certain hot-button issues. I suppose I could say that my political views begin with the Word of God—although the Religious Right-Wing in this country has given that a negative connotation. What I really want to say is that they are “As Conservative as the Word of God, As Liberal as the Love of God.” That, and terms such as “World Citizen,” “Agent of Change,” “Proponent of World Peace,” “Lover of All Mankind,” all accurately describe where I stand politically.

I had an interesting discussion with a fellow VISTA serving in Charleston through the Noisette Foundation, working with the School District, while up in Camp Greenville. We talked in depth about hot-button political issues such as education and health care, and realized that we had very similar views on those issues. He told me about his work with the South Carolina Democratic Party (they do exist in South Carolina, believe it or not), and the discussion was quite lively. There was something he said that really struck me: the biggest problem with society these days is the spread of misinformation. And not just political misinformation, but misinformation of all kinds, because it is the sole cause of so many problems that the world currently faces. The spread of misinformation about education, health care, religion, people, cultures, countries, life all stand in the way of achieving world peace (believe it or not, an idea that is more than just a cliché answer given at many a beauty pageant).

I can assure you that this all was music to my ears when this discussion was taking place, because I feel the exact same way. And you have no idea how badly I wanted to talk about the Revelation at this moment. But, perhaps for the better or worse, depending on the context one wants to view it in, I held back and firmly agreed with his talking points, and decided that I would strive to always be on the quest (even subconsciously) to fight misinformation in this world. For a little while after, I was kicking myself for not talking about the Revelation and bringing the discussion to an articulation of just as intelligent, if not more intelligent, ideas in the quest to fight misinformation. Would it not have been relevant, considering the context of what we’ve witnessed in the past day, week, month, year? We had the Fort Hood shootings just occur in Texas. There exists a large crowd of people who want to point the finger at the perpetrator, Major Nidal Malik Hasan, for being a Palestinian Arab Muslim in instigating the crimes. But, alas, there exists the endless quest to fight misinformation, and we must politely and respectfully say, “I’m pretty sure the Word of the Quran and the teachings of Muhammad (pbuh) had very little to do with the atrocities he created. I’m also equally sure that his Palestinian Arab heritage had no bearings as to why the crimes were committed either. It could very well have been Major Billy Joe-Bob, a Tennessee White Southern Baptist who could have committed these crimes. Would his Tennessee heritage and his Southern Baptist faith have been the reasons for committing these crimes?” By doing this, we avoid the awful “us versus them” mentality, and hopefully, circumvent grievous injustices from taking place.

Remember, horrific events in history take place when people remain subdued and misinformed about issues of great moral clarity. We, in this day and age, cannot remain silent about the spread of misinformation. We must not remain silent about the spread of misinformation.

Free-Writing: Searching for that Silver Lining

Often times, I feel the need to free-write my thoughts down just so I can keep track of all the things that race through my mind on any given day. Over the last couple of weeks, I’ve really felt this need become more apparent in my life as I work through my year of service here in Upstate South Carolina. I’ve really surprised myself at some of the things I’ve managed to write down:

“I’ve thought long and hard about the subject of rhetoric, and have come to the conclusion that I prefer dispassionate analysis over hasty emotional appeals. It’s a conclusion that I’ve always known to be true, but I just needed to get it down on paper.”

“I’m not a perfect person, and during my time here in the Upstate, I’ve become more acutely aware of my own personal shortcomings. I pray that I can somehow overcome them if given the chance to someday, and reflect a grain of humility in myself at the same time.  I suppose that none of us are perfect—yet the quest to become illumined by this great Revelation is one that I’ll be on for longer than my lifetime. I’ve also realized my duty to humanity and am blessed to help out the people here at Greer Relief and Resources on a daily basis, so the pudding might have a chance of being bittersweet at the end.”

“Of personal regrets in my life, I have a few. Perhaps the one that eats away at me most is not being able to articulate to my father in the clearest terms of how much I loved him while he was alive. I suppose I’ll die with this regret, yet I find myself comforted by the fact that he’s in a better place and providing me guidance through the blessings of the Almighty. It’s taught me to make sure that the people I love in my life know that I love them each and every day through sentiments, thoughts, and actions.”

“I’ve wrestled with the moral obligation that I have to turn the words of this Divine Revelation into something that is living and breathing and apparent in every facet of my daily life. Reading the writings has given me an appropriate start, but yet, I find myself needing to rekindle these fires within me every now and then. How do I keep that flame burning consistently? And how do I express my gratitude to Allah (SWT) for all the wonderful blessings in my life that I’ve been given?  I’m reminded of the quote “Allah (SWT) gives and forgives. Man gets and forgets” to describe this situation appropriately.”

“Of friends, I have many. But a few close friends who really know me well. It’s easy to make new friends, often cool and insightful and neat. You never know what another soul can teach you about this great and wonderful adventure we call life. I am at heart, a silly and frivolous person with a serious and ambitious side that wants to serve humanity in the best way that he can. Don’t really have an insecurity regarding the making of good, quality friends and having good, quality people in my life. However, nothing frustrates me more than a friend who won’t take you seriously—“maybe I should take you more seriously” only adds salt to the wound of my insecurity.”

“I don’t take myself too seriously—my work most seriously, and I always try to remember that I’m here but for a limited time in this world. I want to make the most out of this life. I really think that the personalities of my parents shaped me in that way, along with my own personal history of ‘dodging bullets.’ I pulled a frying pan of fish onto myself at 18 months old and suffered massive burns on my body. I crashed a car when I was seven (nothing too serious). I had a benign tumor in my chest cavity that could have killed me when I was 12. I watched my mother and father live their entire lives scared and vowed to myself that when I grew up, I would be brave, or “dush-shahosh” as the Bengalis like to say. I want to help alleviate the crises in health care such as the childbirth mortality rates in sub-Saharan Africa, or fix fistulas in Eritrea, or perform surgeries in Kashmir. I want to teach the cause of Allah (SWT) to receptive souls. I want to grow closer to Allah (SWT) while in this world.”

“I do not know much about death, but when I go, I hope to go with the faith that it is a summons for a new existence—the summons to go and live with God in Paradise. I hope that I have time in this world to positively influence the impulses that shape it. I try to detach myself from the material world in every action that I take—yet freely admit to enjoying some of the material things within this world. How hypocritical of me. I hope that I can always possess my moral clarity and that it is clear for as long as I shall live.”

“Part of me deeply resents the person I was during the majority of my college life before becoming a CA at Middlebrook Hall. I will admit to intemperance during those days of lawlessness. I will confess to a rudimentary lack of discipline in myself during that time in my life. Putting down the specific actions that I took would be pointless at this moment. I look at the utter selfishness and disregard for who I was and what I ought to strive for in this world. I am reminded about the wisdom behind the laws of this Revelation. I am reminded that Shoghi Effendi really did get the idea of a chaste life correct in “Unrestrained as the Wind.” Saying that I believe in this Revelation is not enough. I remember the words in the Quran commanding us that we will be tested with afflictions and sorrows even if we do believe. My imperfections are often times apparent. I work on them every day. For this it is essential that I have healthy, stable, and loving relationships in my life in the hopes that I can someday make a positive impact on humanity. I don’t want to get rid of potentially unstable influences in my life either, but I will not play dice with my own moral clarity.”

“Love is truly the secret. I find that people are more receptive to me when I show them sentiments of love instead of sentiments of bitter bluntness.  I don’t think I could articulate the sentiments of love better than Abdu’l-Baha did. I think that I can adequately articulate a love for all of humanity in words—but my actions must show it in every possible way. I often times get frustrated and heartsick when I express sentiments of love to people and don’t receive anything in return. How hard can it be to say: “I love you?” Or show it through unselfish actions? Even once? I suppose I can’t be attached to that feeling of utter inadequacy and dismal failure. Remember, Tariq: trust in the Lord with all thy heart and lean not on thy own understanding. Just a swift kick in the ass to remind myself that God knows best in all things.”

The conclusion that I come to is that the medium of free-writing gives me the creative freedom to adequately express, in however inadequate language, the very veracity of my thoughts.

Dabbling in Poetry Every Now and Then

So here’s a secret about me, y’all (yes, I’m adopting the South Carolinian lingo these days). I write poetry.

Lots of it.

I have been published in quite a few anthologies of poetry (my mom has all of the books) back in the day. It’s not a secret that I share with a lot of people, so feel privileged to know this little tidbit about me. I used to write avidly back in high school…often times during AP English, AP Calc, and Honors Chemistry, I found myself drifting away from the lectures on Hamlet, integration of functions, and acid-base titration chemistry and into my own world of words and thoughts. As my dad always used to say to me: “Tariq, you have the mind of an engineer but the heart of a poet.”

I suppose he was right. After his death, I stopped writing poetry for whatever inexplicable reason. I couldn’t find any motivation out of life to weave the thoughts together into stanzas, and ultimately, a part of me felt dead on the inside. About ten months or so ago, I found that motivation again, along with many gems of wisdom from having lived life without poetry (that’s a long story that I’ll find the energy to tell someday). I’ve written many poems since that moment in time, and I’m proud to say that it was the best decision I ever made in my entire life as of thus far (next to serving God here in South Carolina and probably will only be equaled by marrying the woman of my dreams someday). Here is a poem that I wrote recently. Still trying to come up with a creative title. Originally called “Bad Faith,” I realized that this was entirely inappropriate. Ideas, anyone?

Untitled Poem

The rolling hills of yesterday bring back those days and those times
where the world seemed to rhyme,
Here I am today, a few years older from those days,
Here I am now, standing on the rolling rocks of my youth;
Here I am now, standing on the precipice of faith—
For maybe worse than bad hair and bad eyes is bad faith;
Bad faith from those days of idle hearts and idle minds,
Bad faith from misery and mendacity;
Bad faith—cajoled from the inexperience of youth and the
temptation of lust,
I see those images now as they blend together into the night;
The stars shimmer the story all into one—
The story of my youth rejoicing from this place.

Oh, how I remember the taste of mulled cider and the smell of
winter pine beneath the starry night of crimson so long ago!
The sight of falling snow blanketing the earth gives rise to a new
season of hopes eternal,
As the embers of wood burning with fury warm my soul;
Can it be that my heart has spoken of truths unknown?
I see from this spot a home and hearth blessed with the prayers
and the dreams and the hopes of God’s good grace,
I see from this spot a life given and a life taken;
I see from this spot love’s trying journeys and love’s enduring promises,
I see myself withered and wrinkled with the joys of the Good Word.

So here is my parable etched in a moment,
Here in this pretty place over the mountains I see the
Soft shadows of yesterday disappearing into the mist;
Here I am, as solitude and I talk to ourselves and say amidst
the rustling leaves our secrets into the wind—who shall she tell?
I hear the gushing waters down below rip-roaring deep into my heart,
I feel the precipice life sailing away from me,
Drifting away into the sky like a sweet memory from yesterday.
I see the soft fog whisking me away from this moment;
I wish I could go back to that place, even if just for an instant,
But alas—superfluous youth corrupts all men!
And so I must watch myself age with wisdom and grace,
In this pretty place over the mountains.

A Smorgasbord of Reflective Thoughts

How do I sum up my life over the past week so far? Well, to put it briefly, I’ve spent the past week a very busy man. Friday of last week (October 9^th, 2009) was spent gleaning apples at an apple orchard in Spartanburg County and picking up donations of water and a drink called Tummie Yummies (water that tastes like bubble gum) in Spartanburg.

This weekend was spent walking around beautiful and majestic downtown Greenville, taking in the aroma of a sweet southern town while walking around in beautiful weather.  I ran into this and thought to myself: how perceptive…and how very true.

On Monday, I got to meet U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina) at a Town Hall meeting at Furman University from the recommendation of my boss, Caroline Robertson. While the crowd was hostile to him, I felt that there were a lot of intelligent things that he said during the meeting and realized the vast differences between the politics of Minnesota and the politics of South Carolina (the man would have gotten a standing ovation for his views on alternative energy in Minnesota instead of being heckled by boos). Even though I maintain my political independence and try to strive for an overall non-partisan nature, I do understand the basic instinct to be partisan when it comes to politics. Nevertheless, it is something that I strive to avoid and pray about. I asked him what should be done about the human rights violations in Iran and he said that this was something that the United States and the international community needed to be more proactive about. I did manage to get a picture with him, and he was proud of the fact that I moved to South Carolina to serve as an AmeriCorps VISTA.

The rest of this week has been spent with an amazing amount of busywork. A lot of time has been spent reminiscing to episodes in my life: the college experience, high school, and my formative years in St. Paul and Cottage Grove, Minnesota. I’ve thought intently about who I was during those years as I look back on my life. Some memories will last forever: the memory of the fireplace at the house in Cottage Grove rip-roaring with a fire on a chilly autumn night sipping hot apple cider while watching the evening news with my dad or Little House on the Prairie with my mom, the smell of the winter pine trees coated with snow as I climbed them on a cold winter day for the best view of the neighborhood I lived in, the intense hues of orange and red from the leaves of the maple trees in my backyard during a brilliant Indian summer, and the fragrance of crabapples that filled the street with aromas letting everyone know that it was springtime again. I remember more about myself—an intelligent, but altogether naïve young man from suburbia who knew nothing of the ills and the suffering that billions of people from all across the world go through on a daily basis due to the poverty that exists. My fifteen year old self would have just said:  “that’s sad” and gone on to thinking about ‘bigger things,’ such as how the Green Bay Packers did during the Monday night game, or about the sick triple double performances that Kevin Garnett put up during his years with the Minnesota Timberwolves.

Eight years later, and hopefully with a more global perspective on things, I find myself freely admitting to the privilege (I would almost use the word ‘affluence’ in this regard) that I enjoyed as a junior youth. I remember enjoying my time with the Friends of Greenville County last night during prayers and talking to Aziz (a Wisconsin Badgers alum) about the Gophers vs. Badgers game a couple of weeks ago when the topic was shifted to the situation in Iran for Muslims, Christians, Jews, Zoroastrians, and Baha’is. I remember being fully engaged as a fellow friend from Iran spoke about the situation in Farsi. To realize the atrocious human rights violations that are going on there for everyone—especially Baha’is, and to hear it from the perspective of an Iranian, was something that struck a chord for me. I remember the friends taking their time, asking questions about the election, the 7 Baha’is in Iran awaiting trial, the 3 American college students who are being held by the government, and other various things. I asked her the question about hope in Iran and whether this situation would improve. To my amazement, she replied with optimism that “injustice never lasts. The truth of this Revelation will defeat the tyranny imposed by the misguided religious clerics who blaspheme the teachings of Muhammad (pbuh) someday.” At that moment, I wished I could have shared in her optimism. The only thing I found myself able to do was to remember the friends in Iran and the Iranian people in my prayers.

I meditated on the conversation and on my own past experiences as a junior youth in Islamic classes. The thought that I drifted off into sleep with, and the thought that I want to close this entry with is this: it is simply amazing to me how full circle the Message that all of the Manifestations of God have brought to the people of this Earth come together harmoniously. Truly, I am in awe of how wonderful it all is. I thank God everyday for blessing me in this life with enormous wealth and feel unworthy of the gift and honor that I have been given.

Isn’t that horizon incredible?

A Pretty Place

Originally, I was going to blog about the entire experience at Camp Greenville and the fun activities, team-bonding, moaning and groaning that took place over two rain-drenched, exhaustive days in a corner of North and South Carolina. However, my conscience and my heart got the best of me on Wednesday morning when I went out to Pretty Place and saw the view.

To describe the view with a picture would not be doing it justice whatsoever. A picture is worth a thousand words, but there’s the smell of the woods, the clean, crisp feeling of the wind in your face as you’re looking out of one of the most beautiful and pristine views that all of America has to offer, and the feeling of such sentiment and joy that is simply beyond belief. The church (appropriately called “Pretty Place”) sits right on the North Carolina/South Carolina border and happens to be in the area where a lot of the Cherokee tribe fled to after President Andrew Jackson facilitated the forced removal of the Five Civilized Tribes, thereby orchestrating the “Trail of Tears.” I remember, upon seeing the place at sunrise (pictures will be posted on my Flickr account), simply thanking God for bringing me to this point in my life. I remember meditating inside the church and praying for steadfastness, courage, love, and guidance for the rest of the year and for the rest of my life while serving the cause and for the glory of God in this day and age.

After prayers, I browsed around the rest of the church in bewilderment and sat out on the ledge overlooking Pretty Place. The church itself was built in the late 19th century/early 20th century at around the same time that Camp Greenville was founded by the YMCA. I wondered for a second how many people, throughout all of history and through the various ages, must have sat on the same ledge and seen the amazing view of the forests and the rolling hills of the Appalachian range. The whole experience gave me a new perspective on life and the things that we expect from it…asides from having a breathtaking view of the horizon.

Even now, as I sit in my office in Greer and think about the woods and hills of the Western Carolinas, I am filled with awe and wonderment. The smell of the woods after the rain brings me to a time of simpler things contrasted with the present every day life. The sun rising over the cross at Pretty Place brings me face to face with the simple but transcendent beauty of nature. The ziplining through the North Carolinian forest gives me the feeling of freedom in a world of unrealistic expectations and obligations. And last but certainly not least, the burning pine in the hearth on a cold, rainy October night in the Appalachian foothills gives me a feeling of  a warm home that I so desperately miss and long for.

I’m beginning to realize that here in Greer, things are quite content for me and that my work at Greer Relief and Resources Agency is going very well. I’m getting more acquainted with my surroundings and slowly but surely furnishing my apartment to where it needs to be (promise to post pictures of this too!!). I have a torrent of thoughts stemming from a very deep and intellectual conversation that I had up in Camp Greenville that will be the subject of a blog post soon on the idea of misinformation in our society and its detrimental effects. I’m currently playing the waiting game on my medical school applications for the 2010 cycle. I’m overfed and have a roof over my head at the moment. Yet, I still find myself thinking in my daydreams throughout the day of that sun rising over Pretty Place and those deep Appalachian woods of Western North Carolina. I am now truly convinced that the saying here in South Carolina is fully accurate…the Carolinas are truly God’s country. Along with the rest of the whole wide world that we have an obligation to save.

Hi Ho Hi Ho…Its off to the Cherokee Forest I go!

Hi Ho Hi Ho…Its off to the Cherokee Forest I go!

Anyway, the title says it all. A quick blurb on the rest of my week though.

Thursday was payday (THANK GOD) for the AmeriCorps VISTA members. I cannot express the multitude of relief that I felt when I saw my bank account having more than $20 in it. I spent that morning with Nathan at the WalMart distribution center getting donations for our clients. That’s the thing about non-profit organizations—we always have to be resourceful and find a way to provide services to our clients using as many different resources as we can. This was followed by a lunch outing for Greer Relief at Miso Sushi (yum) where Young and the Restless was playing on television. Hadn’t tuned in for a few months, but from watching for five minutes, I gathered that Victor Newman was suffering from congestive heart failure and needed a heart transplant, Sharon Collins Newman Abbott (not sure if she’s still married to Jack) was having a baby, Katherine Chancellor and Jill Foster were at a lunch outing, Nikki Newman was bawling over Victor as usual, and Nicholas Newman was showing the viewers an exercise in incompetence (he’s conflicted between Phyllis and Sharon, joy).

After lunch, Caroline and I went to Mitsubishi Polyester Film for a speaking engagement. It was pretty neat watching the film being synthesized down on the factory floor while we spoke about Greer Relief and Resources Agency. I got to see the boss in action (she’s really good at what she does). After the engagement was over, Caroline and I headed back to Greer Relief and Resources Agency to finish up the rest of the day, which consisted of a whole lot of nothing considering that Nathan and Sheena Greene (the receptionist) were both at Duke Energy for a training initiative for the afternoon. Caroline and I talked about the current health care proposal that was being debated in congress, which was fun and exciting.

Friday was yet another non-eventful day, which simply consisted of me buying a new digital camera for the purposes of picture taking out in the Cherokee Forest come next week (mostly in Tennessee and North Carolina, with a touch of it in North Greenville County in South Carolina, where I’ll be). The highlight of my day came at 8:30 am when I found a package in the mail for me from Dr. Lisa Carney Anderson, who I worked for as a Physiology Teaching Assistant for the past year. I got baked cookies, which were really really really yummy. And a thank you note for being a good TA and for serving my country. It’s good to feel appreciated. God bless her. I’ll have to write her back. What probably was the highlight of my day other than this was waking up sore from a night of tennis playing with Nathan and his medical resident friends. They were all pretty good, needless to say. I spent Friday night in quiet contemplation as to what the next week will bring. I also remembered that I had to make some headway into my Independent Study Course (Cell Biology, yay!) this weekend, so I’ll look into that.

What I want to touch on before I leave for a three day getaway was one thing that I mentioned in the last blog entry about the injustices in this world. My time here working with the underserved in this society thus far, though brief, has taught me so many different things about the concept of poverty in this world. Poverty is a condition that knows no boundaries. It neither discriminates nor does it yield unless we the people do something about it. I’ve seen the appreciative faces of the folks that I’ve been blessed to help out thus far, whether it be with a referral to the Department of Social Services, with the distribution of food, or in the free clinic with a doctor’s checkup. I find myself teetering on the verge of something really great right here right now. I’ve reflected back on the revelation a little bit lately and thought more about the Christian concept of communion and the Muslim concept of brotherhood while working here. Both have given me constant inspiration and hope in my work, and I’ve learned that the only way that we as human beings can ever hope to achieve the greatest peace in this day and age (even though it is technically ordained and promised by God) is if we each do our individual part to work for it by building a better world. I see my Black brothers come in here for help with their rent and leave with smiles on their faces. I see my Latina sisters come in here for help with securing work and leave with content. I see the faces of my White mothers and fathers come in here for food and leave knowing that they can feed my family. In all ways, when even one of us suffers, we all suffer, and when one of us is uplifted, the whole world becomes illumined.

Enough with this smorgasbord of dancing thoughts. It’s off to the Cherokee Forest I go for a three day adventure in the Great Smoky Mountains consisting of rock climbing, rope walking, hiking, and fun camp-like activities. I can only hope that this will be more exciting than CA camp.

An Eye Opener

I promised a ’silly and asinine’ blog update yesterday. I’m afraid that I will fail on that account. Today, I bring to you a quarry of thoughts stemming from my day yesterday. I had a quarterly budget meeting with the executive board at the Texas Steakhouse, where I got to try real Chicken Fried Chicken. Mostly boring and non-exciting, except for all of the College Football talk that was going on. Our friend Rudy’s a real Georgia Bulldogs fan, lol. Anyway, my thoughts really begin from the meeting with the Upstate Hunger Coalition.

This meeting turned out to be the best hour and a half that I could have possibly spent my week. I met with a Reverend, a Superintendent of Schools, a nutritionist, and a representative from Meals on Wheels. One by one, each of us told our stories about the exciting activities that our organizations were partaking in. These stories were all very inspiring and very sad at the same time. A story that struck a chord with me was the story of a community of Ukrainian immigrants in Spartanburg County gleaning for free apples in an orchard. They were offered this chance by the owner of the apple orchard, and the partnership with a local Baptist Church. This was a community that is relatively new to this area, coming here after the downfall of the former Soviet Union. Most of them have a significant language barrier in their everyday life here in the United States. With the advent of the recession, most of the manufacturing jobs in the area (i.e. Mitsubishi, BMW) have been laying off workers. They are struggling mightily during this time.

Another story that was told that I remembered clearly was a game that was put on by a superintendent during her time working for Clemson University as a professor for her students (go Tigers…) called “The Hunger Game.” In a classroom of 100 or so students, each is given a card, either red, yellow, green, or orange. Those who get the red card go to one room, those who get the yellow card go to another room, those who get the green card go to another room and those who get the orange card go to another room. There are 2 red cards, 8 yellow cards, 35 green cards, and 55 orange cards. The 2 red cards represent the wealthiest 2% of the world, complete with wonderful 4 course meals (from an expensive restaurant) for dinner and an allotment of money (actual dollars)/foods/etc to donate to the poor, for themselves, etc. The 35 green cards represent the “middle road” of the world, neither rich nor poor. They get a meal from Kentucky Fried Chicken and a smaller allotment of money and goods. The 8 yellow cards represent the World Organizations that are helping out the world, such as the World Food Program. The 55 orange cards represent the 55% of the world that is living at the poverty level. They get a meal of sticky rice with dirty water and are entirely dependent on aid from the reds and greens (more so from the reds than the greens) such as monies and foods and medical aid. The best part of this poverty simulation was that the students who participated in this game got really really angry in addition to learning a valuable lesson. What made this even more real was that over 70% of the alloted aid that was given by the reds and greens to the yellows to give to the oranges was pocketed and stolen by the yellows, thereby signifying corruption in the distribution of aid to the poor. All in all, a good game.

The story that struck me the most during this meeting was definitely the story told by the nutritionist working for Greenville County Schools. She talked simply about the programs concerning hunger that were being put on for schools throughout the school district and the stigma concerning hunger that is attached to the students by their peers. There’s been discussions by the Obama administration about extending school to year round just so these students who are going hungry at home can take advantage of the free lunches that they would receive at school. Often times, these children who are going hungry on a daily basis come from broken homes. Probably the part that struck me and almost got me to start tearing up was this exchange between the nutritionist and a young boy:

Nutritionist: “Aren’t you excited for the weekend?”

Young Boy: (looking dejected) “No”

Nutritionist: “Why?”

Young Boy: (about to cry) “Because there’s no food at home.”

I felt like an idiot sitting there in the room, really floored by the magnitude of the privilege that I enjoyed throughout my childhood and early adulthood. In many ways, I still enjoy it in comparison to the people that I help out every day, whether its in the free clinic or food distribution. I cannot help but appreciate all that I’ve been given in this lifetime. After this experience of living poor for a year, I’ll go on to Medical School and become a physician, while the majority of the clients that I see every day will remain in their condition of relative poverty. I wish that there was something tangible that I could even say to a little kid in our world going hungry, or suffering from a lack of medical care, or living in emotional poverty. I wish that I could make it all better in some regard. But I’m not a miracle worker…merely a man who finds himself in the learning experience of a lifetime. I realized yesterday while trying to digest my thoughts that this is an experience which knows no boundaries, which has given me a sorely needed direction towards my life’s mission in being a physician who serves the underserved in our society, which has taught me the tenants of enduring hope in times of adversity. All of this helped me look at thoughts I was exploring before, where I thought to myself, “now here is an opportunity that I want to take advantage of during medical school–serving internationally and helping out the medically underserved at a mobile medical clinic, or partnering up with an HIV/AIDS Initiative in Sub-Saharan Africa.” But hunger is a serious problem in this world as well, and it takes a doctor who is willing to stand up and travel abroad to countries where the majority of people live in absolute poverty (see Bangladesh , Haiti) to be able to help out with small children and make sure that they are nutritionally healthy. That part of my life (medical school) is a blank slate, a pandora’s box of things that I could possibly explore when the time comes.

A tall mountain to climb, I know. I hope to learn so much more from the Upstate Hunger Coalition during my time here in Upstate South Carolina. To the people of the Upstate Hunger Coalition, you gave me an eye opener. Thank you. From the bottom of my heart.

Trying to Find My Way Here

It’s been a pretty intense week….I promised updates on a daily basis and am still trying to keep that promise! Right now, its the end of my first week of working here at Greer Relief and Resources Agency, a United Way Agency here in the Piedmont Region of South Carolina (think, rural, Upstate South Carolina) and believe me, it definitely was a handful of a week!

Tuesday was my first day officially on the job at Greer Relief, and that consisted of me orienting myself with people in the building and learning how to operate the system here at Greer Relief before I get the chance to make any change to it. Caroline (pronounced like Carolina except with an ‘e’ at the end instead of an ‘a’), my boss, gave me the grand tour of the entire building: from the food pantry to the free clinic in the back. It’s truly a team based operation. I got to meet Sandy, the director of the free clinic where I’ll be working on Tuesday afternoons helping doctors out with medical checkups (a pretty neat side job to my responsibilities here in Greer Relief: I get to learn more about rural patient care for the medically underserved). But, a little bit about Caroline: she is probably the coolest boss ever and has made this entire transition to South Carolina very fun for me. She is a Clemson alum, and is a HUGE fan of the Clemson Tigers football team, probably the biggest football team here in South Carolina. I might end up getting to go to Death Valley (Clemson, SC) for a football game this year: let’s keep my fingers crossed. This’ll make up for not getting to go to TCF Bank Stadium to check out a Gophers game this year. Though judging by the pictures, there really is no comparison between the two facilities: Clemson seems to have the better stadium if I’m being honest with myself.

Anyway, back to what I’ve been doing that’s kept me busy all week. On Tuesday, I spent the day getting oriented with my job for the next year. Wednesday was a day with a whole bunch of meetings, interviews with pre-trial intervention folks that I’ll be managing (I have a couple of these interviews a week, so it’ll be fun to help someone stay out of jail), and ordered my computer for the next year. I also got myself hooked up with the overall system. Wednesday night was spent filling out the rest of my AMCAS application for medical school next year as well as learning more about the history of Greer, South Carolina through library books. Apparently, the town was named after the farmer Greer and has a really cute downtown (I will post pictures of this as soon as I can, I PROMISE!!!! Probably on a flickr account to detail my year of service more once I can afford a camera), and driving around the community.

Thursday was spent doing work-related things such as sorting out the food pantry and coming up with a system as to how we here at Greer Relief will keep track of what is given to each individual family and the importance of eating healthily (Caroline expressed her disapproval for a purchase of two crates worth of Vienna Sausages from Aldi, saying, “we ain’t never buying them again!). Thursday afternoon consisted of me going out to a farm in Taylors (an unincorporated community within the Greenville city limits) to pick up fresh okra, eggplants, and cabbages for the relief organization, which was awesome. It was hot and humid (somewhere close to 90 degrees F with the humidity making it feel like 100 degrees F). I talked to a nice guy named Alton Spurgeon who had me try two different kinds of raw okra (it was really good), and said that he’d be seeing more of me in the spring when I help him pick crops for the organization on his farm in rural Laurens County (I reckon he’s right about this account. The organization loves feeding people fresh greens whenever they can).

I got a nice surprise Friday when I saw the balance in my banking account (turns out Macy’s paid me more than I thought they would…can’t complain. Though it makes food stamps for the month of September less likely). Friday morning consisted of my friend Nathan Ilg (also the financial officer of the organization) and I driving out to the Spartanburg Costco to pick up donated food from the store. On the way there, we had a conversation about religion. I explained to him the tenents of my beliefs in God (essentially I accept the station of all of the manifestations of God and that as a God fearing person, it was neither my right to condemn nor stop anyone from worshipping our benevolent God the way that they saw fit). We talked a bit about the Bible and the tenents that are laid out in the scripture and our understanding of it. I explained to him what I believed about the Bible: it contains within it the unknowable spirit of God, but that it is not a perfect book because of its authorship (New Testament: Matthew, Mark, Luke, John). He then asked me about the faith and I told him as much as I was qualified to tell him about it. I can already tell that Nathan and I will definitely be having overtures in pluralism this year.  And what makes it even better is that he’s a Bob Jones University alum: the same Southern Baptist University that produced the likes of Mike Huckabee and had a ban on interracial dating up until very recently. I’m just glad that he and I mutually respect each other and am glad to call him a friend.

Friday afternoon consisted of a very light load after I directed the parolees to their jobs here at the agency. Caroline had me set up my computer and installed a bunch of programs, so I am glad to announce to the world that I am no longer facebookless! I also got to drive a truck with a stickshift for the first time since high school–it took a little bit before I got going. I got a couch and a desk from Caroline to put into my apartment, which was awfully nice. Apparently, I’ll be driving the truck a lot for this job (I’m well on my way to becoming a Southerner!!!!!! Yay!!!).

Right now, I’m realizing that an awful lot has happened this week and that time down here just flies! We’re already at the end of September and it feels like just yesterday that I was up in Minnesota hanging out at Middlebrook Hall at the University of Minnesota. Or in Dinkytown. Or in Minneapolis proper. Or in….you get my point. Hopefully I’ll get to sleep in a little bit this weekend and get some more medical school stuff done. It’ll be exciting.

For those of you who were wondering, if you want to send me love, letters, love letters, cookies, presents, packages, anything (yes, I’ll even take kinky love letters from Tom Mitchell….love yah homie), my mailing address is:

Tariq Rashid
101 Chandler Road #337
Greer, SC 29651

BAM! Anyway, I’m off for now. Have a great weekend, kids (I’ll post something more general tomorrow instead of a daily update). I’ll see yah Monday.

The History of My Last Few Days……Abridged

So I promised an update on my fastidiously fast-paced life this weekend or Monday, but was not able to find the time or muster the energy to post such an update. So here is a rundown journal that I quickly jotted down of my days in service since it started. I wrote it in the style of free-hand, so I hope that it is easy to follow and kind of interesting to read. Again, I apologize for breaking with the every day schedule that I proposed.

Wednesday, September 16^th, 2009

Woke up at 7 am and went down to breakfast after a night of tossing and turning in the hotel room bed which I found to be hard as a rock. But I do not remember being happier about waking up to a morning. I thought immediately of Ronald Reagan’s nice line “it’s morning in America again” as the MCAT nightmare was now finally over (though politics mostly annoys me these days and is by no means the solution that I would use to solve the world’s ills). Training sessions for AmeriCorps VISTA today were mostly boring, with the same hum drum that all training sessions seem to have. I commented to my friend Megan from Mississippi that this was mostly a waste of everyone’s time and we both mutually agreed. I commented on a friend of mine who was able to get his power bill down to $10 for an entire month. She told me in her Mississippi drawl that her “pappy got it down to $6 one month.” Either way, the prospect of being under the poverty line is kind of scary. Really really scary. I spent the rest of the day quickly jotting down potential medical colleges to apply to for the next year. And then got really mad because I couldn’t go to the MLK memorial because of all the rain. I’ll go to bed now. Hopefully sleep will be better than last night.

Thursday, September 17^th, 2009

Woke up at 7:43 am and laid in bed until 8:05 am. Talked to Cathy Sharp (South Carolina AmeriCorps VISTA director) about loan forebearances and early exit exemptions. Sat through presentations where I realized that being a Harvard MBA really doesn’t amount to jack when it comes to being an AmeriCorps VISTA south of the Mason-Dixon line (except the move from Harvard to God’s country). Talked to my friend Maggie Chussler from Charleston for the training session about South Carolina. She says that Charleston is the cutest little town. I’ll have to make a trip down there. Ate some dinner and got rained in again from the MLK memorial. Called up Jonathan Stewart Mungo, a “black brother” from Morehouse who did his Masters of Education at the University of Minnesota and a good friend of mine. He was stuck at the campaign office of a young Morehouse grad who was now running for U.S. Congress representing Fulton County. Sad that I didn’t get to see him. Watched a little bit of the Miami/Georgia Tech game. Go Hurricanes! Anyway, going to go to bed now. Meh. Can’t wait to get back to South Carolina (even though I love the Emory University Campus). Atlanta seems like a town that takes itself too seriously.

Friday, September 18^th, 2009

Finished writing a letter to Mona Majid. Also wrote a letter to my mother and my sister. Mailed them when I got to Greenville-Spartanburg Airport. Found out that my bank account bounced and talked to Laura Sandberg and Jason Kelley about wiring me some money. Going to get a nice souvenir/gift for Laura as soon as possible and something for Jason when I can. Great friends. Found out that I will not be getting paid until October 2^nd. I uttered a swear word or two after finding this out. Back pain is starting to really annoy the crap out of me. So is the rain. Talked to Brandon Gilchrist about arrangements to come back to Minnesota for Christmas time. Prices for tickets from Minneapolis to Boston are quite cheap. Left Atlanta around 2:00 for the airport and talked to a girl that looked an awful lot like Julie Commerford from Kentucky on the way to the airport. She coincidentally went to Carleton College in Northfield, Minnesota and was very familiar with Southwestern Minnesota (reminding me of Julie even more). We talked about Kentucky and my drive through it. Talked to two girls (forgot their names already) who were serving in AmeriCorps VISTA for the state of Washington. Drive through downtown Atlanta was fun. Got back to Greenville around 6 pm and drove to Panera bread for some food. Ate some food now I’m about to fall asleep (its only 7:30 pm).

Saturday, September 19^th, 2009

Woke up at 10:30 am (I guess that bed in Atlanta was terrible!!). Got the bicycle tire fixed in Taylors. Went to the Greer public library to work on my primary medical school application. Heard correspondence from Dr. Kirk Allison and Dr. Jean O’Brien-Kehoe about LORs. Rented a History channel special on the Civil War after returning the films Cold Mountain and Strom Thrumond. Trying to learn more about SC history through films. Found some contacts in Greer. Spent the early evening in quiet prayer (said healing prayer for back pain). Talked to Shahnaz Rashid for a little bit (both complained about mom). Talked to Susan Rashid for a little bit. Sat around and organized apartment for a little bit (still no furniture yet) and then talked to Mona Majid, who promptly said she would introduce me to her friend, Bahiyyih Young, from Columbia (only an hour’s drive south from where I’m at and significantly hotter than the foothills of Greer. Going to bed at 1:30 am (feels like 12:30 am to me).

Sunday, September 20^th, 2009

Woke up at 10:30 am. Worked on medical school applications all day. Went to the Holiday Inn for internet access (public library was closed). Back pain became more pronounced, but less intense. Headache stayed at about the same. Maybe some ibuprofen will help? Found Civilization 3 on an old CD (one of my favorite computer games from back in high school). Talked to my mother about potentially getting a MacBook Pro before medical school started. Called up David Zhang and asked him for some strategy for Civ 3 (he’s probably the biggest cpu gaming geek I know. And I say it as a compliment to him. He’s currently now attending the University of Wisconsin for a Biochemistry Ph.D.). It’s been six years since I played the game, but I played as the Persians and renamed cities—Persepolis became Tehran, Pasagarde became Isfahan, Xerxes became Qom, etc. It was ridiculous. Primary application is almost finished. Thank God. Going to get a good night’s sleep before my lunch and learn in Spartanburg tomorrow.

Monday, September 21^st, 2009

Lunch and learn in Spartanburg with Meghann Swofford was fun. She’s a nice, petite blonde from Savannah, Georgia with a thick southern drawl. One thing I noticed in a room of 13 girls and 3 guys (including myself) is that Southern women seem to “try harder.” Just about everyone there looked like they were from a J. Crew catalogue (including myself in a pair of corduroys and a white striped button up). Maybe it’s just part of the intense culture adjustment. Anyway, after introductions and presentations, lunch was served (it was just about the best lunch I could have asked for—homemade chicken salad served with a nice cranberry apple salad, all topped off with a nice glass of Southern style Sweet Tea, which is REAAAALLLLLLY sweet). After that, we took a nice trip to the gifts-in-kind center in Inman, a nice rural community outside of Spartanburg. I noticed my back really hurting while sitting in the car—going to go see an internist about this on Wednesday, hopefully. The gifts-in-kind center had a lot of things I could use: Brita filter, shower caddy, deodorant, razors, candles, etc. It’ll be really fun to take advantage of this opportunity. Went to the library for some food and then noticed more back pain at which time I got some dinner. Talked to Jim Drinane on the telephone for a little bit. It was nice to see him in Chicago: we met at the Baha’i House of Worship. He seemed to be in good spirits then, and seems kind of cynical now due to school pressures/unnecessary stress. I hope he cheers up a little bit. Played some more Civ 3. Gosh, I really need to find some hobbies. Hopefully work at Greer Relief helps out some. Nathan Ilg and I will be playing doubles tennis with his friends from the University of South Carolina School of Medicine. Should be exciting. Read a little bit of The Priceless Pearl. Watching Last of the Mohicans now. I should get some sleep in preparation for the day tomorrow.