My first-ever experience

Since I was a little child, I have gotten a vast passion for engaging in conversations of different topics, and in which a diversity of beliefs, opinions and ideas would be presented. However, the fact that I was born in a very under-served, under-represented country did not help me develop that passion much enough. Always, I very much wanted to meet different people, talk to them and experience a variety of cultures and values. But that dream was as hard for me as for every other Palestinian besieged in the Gaza Strip. Thank God, I could get a scholarship to come to the United States to get my undergraduate degree from here, and RC is where I have been placed. Three days after arriving on campus, I had my first-ever chance to sit with two gays, a Christian, an Atheist and an Anti-theist! It was dinner time and we gathered in the cafeteria. We started chatting about each other's majors, plans and college level, while I was having my first-ever burger, which was as delicious as I had always thought! Matt, who was the Christian, started our conversation with multiple tough questions about Islam. He seemed to have read so much about it, and how it, as he said, restricted Muslims' lives. There were many points I disagreed with him on, and others I made clear and explained for him. For example, we debated homosexuality, women rights, marriage and war in Islam. A strong point that was hotly debated was: why women have to wear scarves, and how they should be treated. First, I explained to him that women, in Islam, are treated like jewels- they have to be protected and gently treated. Like religious Christian women, Muslim girls proudly and happily cover their whole precious body, and never expose to it to people other than their very close relatives- family, husband, and sons. This way, not every male can see her sacred beauty, and she gets so much less likely to be sexually harassed. Furthermore, Pet, the Anti-theist, and I debated how religions have made people get stuck in wars. Pet believed that religions should not exist, as they have caused much discrimination and many problems in the old and current world. However, I had a completely different belief. I believe that religions, all religions are existed to enhance the purity human beings were created with i.e. the essence of each religion is to educate its followers, to enhance their morals and values, and to develop their honesty, sincerity, purity, philanthropy, love and cooperation. But the problems he said religions cause are problems created by the wrong, extremist, and fanatic followers of religions, not religions themselves. Last but not least, I and Daniel, my roommate and the Atheist, debated the fate of human beings after death. He disbelieved that there is a Hereafter, and that there is God who will judge people for what they have done in their lives. To him, mind would be enough to understand and discover everything, and if there is God then our intellectual scientists would discover him. He could not believe in an abstract being. On the other hand, I said it would be kind of unreasonable that those who kill, steal, rape and do evil things and still do not get their judgment in life are going just to die and pretty much that is it! There, I believe, should be something following our lives so that all criminals, terrorists and evil people would stand before a higher being, who could be God or Allah, and get judged for what they have done.
In conclusion, even though it was my first time to see such completely different opinions and beliefs, it was a great first-of-its-kind experience for me to have. I really enjoyed it, and discovered that regardless of the huge differences among people, we could still sit, talk, understand each other mutually and even love the otherness! I also thought that if Palestinians and Israelis get to sit and talk this way, our conflict would come to an end. And I would no longer be unable to travel freely and engage in such chats with different people, as I said at the beginning of my essay. Finally, I believe that only when all officials of high political and
religious positions would sit and speak this understandingly and appreciatively, will global peace and international security dominate our precious world.