A Traveler's Dilemma

It's raining at last.  November is when the "rains" are supposed to start, but it was a dry month.  Jordan is desperately in need of some rain.  All the new developments have wells to catch any rainwater.  We pray for rain, and then thank God for rain when it eventually comes.

These days, conversations in the program mostly consist of holiday plans, how wonderful Christmas will be in the States, and so on.  Some Jordanian friends have told me they would love to someday experience Christmas in America.  I tell them they should.  And then they look at me like I am silly, and say, "It's almost impossible to get a visa."  

Why? Quite simply - and the embassy does not even try to sugar coat the reasons - because they are twenty something unmarried men, without children, and are originally Palestinian.  It's not just the U.S. of course that has major restrictions on visa applicants.  My friend was requested by a Norwegian international music festival to come and play the oud (classical Middle Eastern instrument) and teach it to music students.  Norway wouldn't let him in, even after the festival appealed three times.  

I understand why there are these restrictions.  Of course I do.  But it's hard having this freedom to travel to most countries and knowing people just like me who want to study elsewhere and to see the world, but can't because they were born in a land that is seen as a threat. It is next to impossible for them to travel to the Western world.  They have to be punished for acts of terrorism that they themselves condemn. 

But what else can America do, or any other western nation?  A child's cry of "it's not fair," is unproductive.