Friendly Enemies

The photo of the gorgeous ladies pictured above comes from an article about a country with which I've long been fascinated — Iran: the friendliest people in the world.

The title reminds me of a conversation I had with my colleagues about a famously gregarious Iranian exchange graduate student we have here. One of my colleagues asked, "Have you ever met an Iranian you didn't like?" I thought back to some of the students I met while teaching in Malaysia, and thought, "No." I remember one guy. Mohammad, a soccer fan who loved the Brazilian national squad, and said, "People ask me, 'When Brazil and Iran have a match, whom do you root for?' I answer, 'Of course, Brazil.'"

In Malaysia, I first met folks from countries like Syria and Libya. One of my favorite memories of Malaysia, during the Clinton years, was of the four Iraqi contractors who lived in my building. I met one of them when he and I, with some others, came to the defense of a Malaysian-Chinese wife being beaten by her Malaysian-Chinese husband in their BMW outside our apartment building. Hasan later invited me to his apartment for tea. He and his housemates called me "Joshua the Friendly Enemy." I talked with these Muslims about real stuff, like God and morality. Hasan, an architect, gave me a blueprint for his future house in Iraq, based on his hero Frank Lloyd Wright and local designs. I pray that that house has been built and stands.

[link via LewRockwell.com]