Newsletter Subject

How Abdulllah reminds us to see beyond stereotypes

From

ytravelblog.com

Email Address

cazcraig@ytravelblog.com

Sent On

Fri, Mar 4, 2022 04:27 PM

Email Preheader Text

 Abdullah was what one might call a dude in the Western World. Hipster looking with his longish be

 [Amman_Jordan-113.jpg] Abdullah was what one might call a dude in the Western World. Hipster looking with his longish beard, connected to Mother Nature, passionate about his life path, and living on the peripheral of what you think are cultural and religious expectations. A cigarette found its way into his mouth every time he finished telling a story or relaying facts in his direct, and sometimes contemptuous way towards society. It made me giggle inwardly and reminded me a little of my own culture. I found him captivating mostly because he was so different to what I thought a Jordanian would be. It’s easy to think that all people have the character traits and beliefs of one certain label: race, gender, religion – we do it within our own cultures. You know a visit to the Middle East requires a more conservative approach, so you pack more carefully, and research more thoroughly cultural taboos. Naturally you assume everyone is conservative. But as we saw in Jordan, many women dressed without hijabs, showing the culture is made up of different religious faith and there is a growing gender equality. That's why travel is so important - if we approach it with an open mind and heart - as it teaches you that you can walk hand in hand with those labels, but exist within and beyond the parameters of them in your own unique style and with your own beliefs and perspectives. Like Abdullah. He was our guide on a 9-mile (9 hour) hike through the ancient city of Petra (more on that wow experience coming soon!). “Don’t let my beard fool you.” he said to me as we rested in the shade with a lemon mint juice staring at the towering Monastery temple carved into the rock face. “Many people see the beard and think, “Muslim” and assume I am a certain way. But I’m not really religious or spiritual and I drink alcohol." He then went on to share (in summation), I have my beliefs, and I’m committed to them. I won’t cheat, steal, or lie, but I don’t have to be so adamant about what I believe and fight with others over them. I don’t get into religious talks with people because it’s just one person’s opinion arguing about another person’s opinion. It’s just beliefs. Neither is right or wrong. Another’s belief doesn’t have to impact my life, nor does my differing belief have to impact theirs." I'd definitely enjoy having a few beers chatting with Abdullah! Only a few days later at our resort, we all sat and watched an exotic belly dancer while the Jordanian people laughed, clapped and took photos. We were confused at how this was acceptable in a conservative Muslim country. We spoke to our Globus tour guide, Osama about it. He had been so open and honest with us throughout our trip about his life growing up as a Bedouin and sharing the Jordanian and Muslim cultures and felt comfortable he’d be okay with our questioning to understand. He went on to tell us of how it’s a personal choice and in Jordan no one judges. “It’s why you see women in hijabs taking photos and videos of the belly dancer. They themselves choose not to do it, but they have no problem with what someone else chooses to do. It’s like in Christianity, you may see some wearing a veil, but others not. You can choose. And it’s all okay.” It was refreshing and enlightening to have these conversations. We felt nervous about asking and probing. I feel nervous even about sharing this with you. But how do we truly get to know one another across what seems like great divides, if we can’t have open, curious conversations? Those that are steeped in the willingness and desire to understand and embrace rather than ridicule, judge and hate. These interactions remind me not to assume or judge, to continue to travel with an open heart and get to know the people I meet on an individual level – what lives in their heart, not what a cultural or religious stereotype will try to define for us. Abdullah was extremely knowledgeable and brought to life the ancient Nabataeans people who created what felt like a near perfect life in the ancient city of carved into the cliffs. Over 6,000 years ago they created a wealthy society that revered women, forbade prostitution and slavery, paid people what they were worth, and engineered a world that existed in harmony with mother Nature. Which had us all confused and asking, “How did we go so wrong? Why do we seem to have strayed so far backwards rather than evolving forward?” I think we need more than a 9 mile hike to figure that one out! Caroline P.S. Another amazing thing about Abduallah. He didn't have any water on our entire hike. Only a tea at the Monastery. Meanwhile, I'm guzzling about 5L a day.   Caz @ytravelblog Y Travel Media [BirdSend](  This email was sent to you ({EMAIL}) because you opted in on our website and indicated you’d like to receive emails from us. If you no longer wish to receive such emails, please [unsubscribe here](. Please add cazcraig@ytravelblog.com to your address book to make sure you receive our emails. Our postal address: 150 Wrenn Drive #1714 Cary, NC 27511 [open]

Marketing emails from ytravelblog.com

View More
Sent On

08/12/2024

Sent On

29/11/2024

Sent On

08/10/2024

Sent On

05/10/2024

Sent On

03/09/2024

Sent On

02/09/2024

Email Content Statistics

Subscribe Now

Subject Line Length

Data shows that subject lines with 6 to 10 words generated 21 percent higher open rate.

Subscribe Now

Average in this category

Subscribe Now

Number of Words

The more words in the content, the more time the user will need to spend reading. Get straight to the point with catchy short phrases and interesting photos and graphics.

Subscribe Now

Average in this category

Subscribe Now

Number of Images

More images or large images might cause the email to load slower. Aim for a balance of words and images.

Subscribe Now

Average in this category

Subscribe Now

Time to Read

Longer reading time requires more attention and patience from users. Aim for short phrases and catchy keywords.

Subscribe Now

Average in this category

Subscribe Now

Predicted open rate

Subscribe Now

Spam Score

Spam score is determined by a large number of checks performed on the content of the email. For the best delivery results, it is advised to lower your spam score as much as possible.

Subscribe Now

Flesch reading score

Flesch reading score measures how complex a text is. The lower the score, the more difficult the text is to read. The Flesch readability score uses the average length of your sentences (measured by the number of words) and the average number of syllables per word in an equation to calculate the reading ease. Text with a very high Flesch reading ease score (about 100) is straightforward and easy to read, with short sentences and no words of more than two syllables. Usually, a reading ease score of 60-70 is considered acceptable/normal for web copy.

Subscribe Now

Technologies

What powers this email? Every email we receive is parsed to determine the sending ESP and any additional email technologies used.

Subscribe Now

Email Size (not include images)

Font Used

No. Font Name
Subscribe Now

Copyright © 2019–2025 SimilarMail.