My first visit to the Middle East was more than thirty years ago.  Since then I’ve traveled fairly extensively in the region: to Israel, Egypt, Iraq, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Jordan, Turkey, and the United Arab Emirates.  The places you visit when you’re young are often those that make the deepest impression on you, and that has certainly been true for me with the Middle East.  Part of the impact it has made on me can be explained by its historical and cultural richness.  Who could fail to be moved at any age by the old city of Jerusalem, by the temple at Karnak, or by Petra?  But when I think of the ingredients that make the region so special and memorable for me, it’s the courtesy, hospitality, and personal kindness from ordinary people that I have encountered everywhere, and the sincerity with which those feelings are expressed, that make the region so special for me.   These qualities really seem to matter in the Middle East and seem to have been an integral part of all the interactions I have had there.

It’s dangerous to generalize, of course, and I don’t suppose courtesy to strangers is any more ubiquitous in the Middle East than it is in South East Asia, for example.  All I can tell you is that ineffable kindness and hospitality have been the norm for me in my dealings with people from all over the region.  This goes a long way to explaining why I love going back to all parts of the Middle East.

Perhaps this matters to me because the qualities I admire there no longer appear to be treasured in the country in which I live.  It probably also explains why “Have a nice day” – said mechanically and insincerely in a hundred trivial exchanges every day – still irritates me more than it should.