Chapter 8: In Chapter 8, Rick Stevens, the author, talks about his travels to Iran. Ricks explores Iran’s rich cultures, religion, education, and gender equality. Iran in particular gives off a “bad” or “dangerous” image to Americans. Entering this notorious foreign country, Rick is nicely surprised by the hospitality and kindness shown to him by the Iranians.
During his stay, he easily spots out many forms of anti-American propaganda, but those contrast greatly with his own findings when communicating with the Iranian locals. Many Iranians are intrigued by Rick, asking him about his nationality. When Rick tells the Iranians that he’s American, the Iranians take it surprisingly well.Rick recalls that some told him “Welcome!” and some even said “I love America!” This shocked me a little bit when I was reading it, since the Iranians have been exposed to anti-America propaganda for quite a while, and yet here Rick tells of Iranians that “love America”.
This made me think twice about how misleading social media can be, as they present biases and stereotypes and portray Iran as a war-torn corrupted land. While that might be true in different parts of Iran, the media doesn’t show the other side of the story, which Rick had explored and wrote about.Chapter 9: In Chapter 9, Rick talks about going back home. I can relate a lot to this chapter, as I share many of the same feelings he talks about in his book. Travelling is really an eye-opening experience. We become more aware of other things and people that we might not notice in the midst of our daily lives.
Rick talks about how he became more aware of the freedom Americans get to enjoy, and how some of the countries he’s traveled to don’t have so many of the things we take for granted. Rick says that travel has changed him, and given him a broader perspective on life. He is now more aware of poor people, and people in need and even more wants to protect the poor, everyone’s civil rights, and the environment we have.
