author of the book T. R. Reid

T. R. Reid, the book’s author, is an American journalist who compares the East Asian way of life to that of Western countries, primarily the United States of America. He observes Japanese culture closely by living there for five years with his family. He praises East Asian countries for the “social miracle” that has established contemporary society. Reid paints a vision of a society with the greatest schools, the most stable families, the lowest crime rates, the safest streets, and an overall well-behaved community with an equal distribution of income and opportunities. The author does a good job in convincing people to learn from the Asian way of living from his own experience with his family in Tokyo. He does this through crediting Confucius teachings that have played a big role in changing the social life of Asians.

During his stay in East Asia, he reports a general feeling of civility and harmony in the streets of Tokyo, Beijing, Bangkok, Singapore, Seoul, Taipei, Lumpur and Kuala among other Asian cities. The author acknowledges his neighbor in Japan Matsuda Tadao whom he likens to Confucius – a Chinese philosopher who taught values of harmony and Reciprocity Ethics, for taking his time to educate Reid about the social life in Japan. From observing his neighbor, he brings out the day to day way of living in Japan. For instance, when Rein’s son was playing the bass loud enough to disturb the neighbors, Mr Confucius – the neighbor, comes in and politely pleads for him to reduce the noise. “Tokoro ga, I am terribly sorry, Reido-san, to intrude on your honorable family at a time when people as important as you must be extremely busy… I know that my humble family too, must be unspeakably noisy... that noise coming from your upstairs in your house… is a meiwaku” (Reid 68). Through such expressions, the author shows clearly the social respect among the Asian people, and through this his family learns of their responsibility as members of Subsection 3.

This is an instance among many other instances Reid’s family finds itself in. They strain to adapt to the strange situation of the Asian values by receiving constant lessons from a cultural interpreter. When he takes his two daughters to the Japanese schools, a teacher apologizes for her small class size. According to her, a larger class would allow the students to form more group combinations to aid in peer learning. The students perform common duties and care for each other. This brought out a clear difference between America’s independence and individualism and Japanese’s love for socialization. The author recognizes Tokyo’s politeness from the time he lands in the airport. Several posts that welcome visitors bring a sense of belonging.

Several characteristics that build the theme of the book have brought out clearly the difference between the Western and the East Asian countries:

Economic Progress

The author refers to the 1990s recession which affected the East Asian countries. The countries still continued to record high economic growth rates despite the crises. Comparing this with other Western countries, Reid states that other countries are highly affected by economic recession and experience economic downfall.

Crime

On the issues of crimes such as murder, assault, kidnapping, robbery, rape and theft, the author argues that Asian countries have lower rates of crime as compared to the rest of the world (Reid 23). He bases his argument on the year 1996 when crime rates in the Unites States were recorded at 19,600 cases. This to him, was more than twenty percent those of East Asian countries. He says that, ”There are murders, rapes, and robberies in Asian societies, but these events are much rarer than in the west. The ‘ordinary’ precautions that have become part of daily life in the United States...” (Reid 23). This shows that Asian countries have managed to maintain low levels of crime rates than the Western nations. On page 108, Reid states that, ”The United States depicted in Asian media is a country where every third person you pass on the street is either unemployed, on drugs, packing a loaded pistol, planning for a lawyer to beat the rap for killing his wife’s teenaged lesbian lover” (Reid 108).

The writer argues that one of the reasons that have maintained low levels of crime rate is low rate of narcotic abuse. Although Asian countries are traditionally known for growing and using narcotic drugs, the author argues that the use of narcotic drugs has reduced in the recent years. He relates this to the social discipline that East Asian people have adapted over the years.

Family

To explain the cultural practices when it comes to marriage, Reid compares the divorce rate in the East Asian countries and Western countries. He states that, only 16 percent of marriages in Japan end up in divorce as compared to 50 percent in the United States, while the other East Asian countries experience less than 10 percent of divorce cases. He explains how people are ashamed to get divorced with a scenario that involved an interview on a talk show called Larry King. A political analyst Tamaru Mizuzu was ashamed when she had to admit that she was divorced. This reveals the respect the East Asian countries have to marriage. To add on that, Reid shares the responsibility of parenthood in these countries. He compares the percentage rate of births outside wedlock in Asian countries and United States. According to a statistic in his book, only one percent of babies are born outside wedlock, while about thirty five percent of all babies in United States are born out of wedlock. This comparison shows the respect to family and marriage that East Asian people have.

From the main themes in the book, Rein brings about social awareness to the readers of the book. He gives an example of how it is difficult for employees to get laid off in East Asian countries. Instead, the government gives a substantial amount of money that is used to pay the ‘unemployed workers’ to the company as they continue working (Reid 193). Reid brings about business solutions to countries during recession with the aim of protecting employee jobs. While this is a good indicator of social progress, it could be difficult for American businesses to adopt, unless the well established companies.

In his argument about low rates of crime rates in Asian countries, it is a great way of comparison that challenges other countries. This moreover, challenges our failures as western countries and gives us good tactics to instill moral values to our people. Such include the polite notices available in all corners of Asian countries.

Rein mainly uses statistics to bring out the comparison between East Asian countries and Western countries. While this is his style of analyzing the social differences between these two regions, it could be argued from the perspective that he does not bring out a clear explanation of the factors considered to come up with the results. For instance, it is not clear that rape cases are low in East Asian countries because people are afraid to speak about it, or it could be because it has a different meaning in different regions.

The examples Reid gives about the social life in Japan and other East Asian countries across the book gives solutions to the Western social ills. He highlights various social practices such as respect to parenthood and marriage, imposition of strict laws against divorce, drug abuse and crimes such as theft, as well as making divorce more shameful and embracing equality in education and distribution of wealth.

The use of Confucius philosophy in this book is a lesson good enough for western countries. With his philosophy, he managed to change the social lives of Asian people to more harmonious and respectful lives. The emergence of such philosophers or rather people who could educate others on the need of embracing good moral values would bring a great change in our society.

On a more personal perspective, reading the book gives me the motivation to look upon Japan as a society that embraces great moral values. The kind of values involved in their way of greeting and addressing other people with respect as brought out by Reid are strong moral values passed through generations.

The book gives us a challenge of responsibility as citizens. Such include the responsibility to report crimes and to support our police in instilling values to us as citizens. It also counts on each one of us to maintain good morals that are free from drug abuse, crime, selfishness and disrespect. According to Reid, the people of Tokyo take the responsibility to instill good morals to fellow citizens. He uses Mr. Confucius his neighbor, to describe this. In the first few days Reid and his family were in Tokyo, Mr. Confucius constantly prompted in their house to remind them about the morals expected from them. This shaped their values and eventually they adapted the good moral values practiced in the country.

Towards the end, Reid concludes that Confucius values are the same as Christian values, they only differ in their applicability. This brings us closer to our values as Christians, and as a result, we should embrace them in practice.

Children of Dust: A Memoir of Pakistan. Ali Eteraz. New York: HarperOne, 2009. 339 pages ISBN: 978-0-06-156708-7

Ali Eteraz, the author of the book Children of Dust, takes us through a memoir of growing up in Pakistan and in the United States of America. He takes the reader in his life journey between the extremes of religion – as he tries to fulfill his destiny as an Islamic servant and human desire – worldly pleasure. In the book, Eteraz tries to explain the challenges that an individual experiences as they thrive towards fulfillment of their destiny. Eteraz takes us through a journey full of challenges, hypocrisy, brutality and innocence. He also reveals the strict Islamic life that Muslims are subjected to, especially in Pakistan, and how culture shock can extremely affect one’s religious base. The message comes across with humor and irony to make the reader connect with the author’s experience, as well as to educate.

Children of Dust is divided in to five sections: The Promised – Abir ul Islam, The American – Amir, The Fundamentalist – Abu Bakr Ramaq, The Postmodern – Amir Ul Islam and The Reformer – Ali Eteraz. In the first section of the book, Ali writes about his birth place, Pakistan. His father makes a mannat, a promise with Allah that if a son is to be born, he would be a great leader and servant of Islam. After he was born, his mother went on Hajj with him and rubbed his chest on the wall of Ka’ba in Mecca for him to receive blessings from Allah and bring reverence and resolve for his religion. Abir grows up in a purely Islamic family where he is incorporated to the teachings and ways of life of the Islamic religion. His name Abir ul Islam means perfume of Islam, which was named after his father’s covenant with Allah. This covenant will indeed guide and torment him throughout his youth. He experiences brutal madrassa education together with great Quran stories from his mother and grandmother Beyji which inspires him and shapes his childhood. He actually remembers the way his mother instilled Islamic values to him, ”told him to turn off the cricket matches and sat him down regularly to teach him the Quran” (Eteraz 23). Two mysterious events happen to remind the family of their covenant with Allah. First, Abir’s baby brother dies mysteriously, while Abir nearly dies from typhoid. This is what leads him to enroll in the madrassa and hence overcomes the illness power. His family then moves to America after Abir’s father, a medical doctor, gets a visa.

Part two of the book brings us to the life in the Bible Belt in Alabama where Abir’s family found a settlement. After joining high school, Abir decides to change his name to Amir to distinguish himself from the family’s religious basis. He faces the difficulties of culture shock as he tries to negotiate his ways between the Quran studies and ABC sitcom. His sudden change of behavior develops tension between him and his family. He would actually say, ”…allow me to identify myself as a Muslim without having to take on the baggage that my parents and Saleem and the QSC added to it” (Eteraz 146).

In part three, Abu Bakr Siddiq joins college in Manhattan and changes his name to Abu Bakr Ramaq which means the spark of light. He develops a burning passion of the Islamic faith through exploration. Ironically, he embraces extremism and secularism and decides to practice earthly pleasures. He gets into the habit of watching movies, reading satanic verses and engaging in sexual pleasures with non-Muslim girls. He finally discovers himself as a Muslim by origin and decides to go back to Pakistan to look for a Muslim wife. People in Pakistan saw him as an outsider, ”stand-in for the entirety of the infidel West. To be more blunt: I was not a part of the ummah, the universal brotherhood of Muslims” (Eteraz 220).

In the fourth part, he enrolls to a Christian University willingly to study Philosophy particularly Postmodernism. This was as a result of denial from Pakistan. He blamed Pakistan of its backwardness and close mindedness. He takes Postmodernism and sexual pleasures as his revenge for people in his motherhood – Pakistan. However, he still carried the covenant made by his father. He hence became the President of the Muslim Students Association. As a leader, he would lead fellow Muslims into prayers and gave advice as an Imam. This mainly was to seek approval from other Muslims and thinking himself as ”Muhammad to the MSA” instead of fulfilling his obligation (Eteraz 247). He went to Washington DC and became a legal associate. Then the Pentagon and Twin 9/11 were hit by planes.

In the last part, he changed his name to Ali Eteraz which means ”Noble Protest”. He ignored his job as a legal associate and made friends in the internet with an aim to save the Islams. He resultantly lost his job and moved to Las Vegas. He then began his mission to convince Arabs to be part of Islam reformation. Afterwards, he planned to reinvent Islam as a religion of equality, peace and justice.

From the book, we learn that people go through changes in their beliefs. As we get more exposed and learn more about life, our perception and behaviors change. Despite Eteraz changing his behavior in response to the environment, his belief in Allah never changed. This is a true reflection of everyone’s life. Our belief in the Supreme Being never changes even when subjected to different beliefs and practices.

When Eteraz gets back to Pakistan, he is treated differently and suspected of being a non-Muslim. This shows the changes in our perceptions as we grow up. We tend to see things differently and become difficult for us to get back to where we came from. Life transforms and enlightens us.

Eteraz experience in Pakistan shows how Muslims are deeply attached to their faith. Their way of life revolves around their religion. This is different from life in other parts such as the US as we see from the book. People do not seem to take things of their faith as serious as how Islam people do. The fact that Eteraz was treated different in Pakistan was as a result of his changed behavior. This shows the seriousness attached to their belief. What we learn from that is to proudly identify ourselves with our belief and strongly fight towards what is morally acceptable according to each ones faith just like people in Pakistan did. Despite Eteraz adapting morally unacceptable behavior such as engaging in sexual pleasures with non-Muslims, he still identifies himself with the Muslim religion through his appearance and being a Muslim Association leader.

From the life story of Eteraz, we are educated about the Muslim community. The style of writing is full of humor and knowledge. He connects with both the Muslim and the non-Muslim people by using simple and interesting style of communication with vivid descriptions and a strong sense of nationalism. He brings an understanding that being a Muslim is not all smooth. It is a journey that comes with perseverance, as he explains the brutality he experienced from the madrassa. It is also a journey of temptations as seen from his indulgence in to interacting with non-Muslim girls in the school and online sites. In addition, it comes with frustrations just like he had been frustrated by the people from his motherland – Pakistan.

Through such life experiences, we learn about what someone passes through in order to fulfill their obligation as believers of a certain religion. The journey involves temptations, harshness and frustrations. However, through self-realization, Eteraz teaches us the need to get back to our roots and humble ourselves in order to fulfill our obligations as believers. Although life may dictate otherwise, we still have to find a way towards our destiny no matter what it brings. He passes through major difficulties of culture shock, temptations and denial by his own people, but he still finds his way towards his destiny; that of being a servant of Allah.

The memoir as well gives hope to people who believe to have lost direction in life. Despite how someone diverts from the expected values and morals of their faith, they can still get back to their original selves; those of good morals, strong faith, and acceptance by the society. Eteraz had been denied by his own people; he had diverted from the values and morals of Islamic faith, and had really suffered from influence by his peers. However, he realized that he was heading to the wrong direction by diverting and getting back to follow the right path through preaching about Islamic faith and convincing Arabs to join the Islamic association.

Some people could argue that Eteraz exposes weaknesses of his religion to non-Muslim people,, however, he has taken a brave step in using his own life to tell his Pakistan-American experience. His honesty of his two extreme experiences in his life tells us that even the most religious people are not perfect. We are human beings and we pass through temptations in life, it only takes acceptance of our mistakes and diverting from the wrong deeds that we manage to get back to purity.

Through the knowledge obtained from the book, the Muslim faith is something to look upon for maintaining good morals through strict moral lessons and being shaped by the society as a whole. Embracing such strong values in our day to day lives leads to little or no divulgence from the expected values and morals as per our respective religious groups.

Works Cited

Eteraz, Ali. Children of Dust: A memoir of Pakistan. New York: Harper Collins, 2009.

Reid, Tom R. Confucius lives next door: What living in the East teaches us about living in the West. Vintage, 1999.