You cannot know how grateful I am for your video. It is as if you produced it for me alone.
I have what has been called "Attention Deficit Disorder", but I've come to understand that it basically means that while I can't focus on the topic at hand, I also see much that "normal" people don't see, like the English-language signs for the museums and parks, in contrast to the Anglicized Arabic numerals of the speedometer of the bus...
...but more importantly, when I watched your video, while I knew much of the history (including the shameful parts that England and America played in recent history), I dearly enjoyed watching the interplay between family, the traditions that are at their base not dissimilar from what I've seen in America and in the Philippines.
The bazaars are little different from the Philippine palengke. The local pride in heroes and achievements are the same...though what you presented was from the Fertile Crescent, the very cradle of civilization.
When I was growing up in the Mississippi Delta, I was taught that America had the best of everything. I then joined the Navy and saw the world, and learned that while cultures and religions may be wildly different, people really are the same, all over the world. We all love our families and our children just as much...and in the final analysis, that's all that really matters.
And so while I watched your video, I saw the smiles, heard the laughter, listened to the quiet pride of millennia of history, and wished I could climb those steps of that ancient fortress that dated from the Seljuk period.
The two parts I enjoyed most were (1) the validation of what I'd heard before, that poetry is more highly valued in Islam than in the West, and (2) the references to Sa'di. I am promising myself that I will find his writings, if for no other reason than to render the gratification that all writers crave, that others will read and appreciate our work long after we ourselves have passed.
Again, thank you. You can't know how much I appreciated your video.
But I must ask - why were the little chicks painted different colors, as are chicks for those who celebrate Easter here in America? Please understand that while I am Christian, the Church of which I am a member does not celebrate Christmas or Easter...but when I was young, I did, and so it did get my attention when I saw the chicks painted different colors.
Again, thank you. I am deeply grateful for your video.
