Day 4: 6ixth Man @ NBC Italia

On the way home from camp yesterday I had a riveting conversation with three Lebanese basketball players and one Austrian player who I’ve been training this week. They had many questions about the United States like, “Is it very oganized there?” and “How do you think of Arabs in the United States?” These questions came from kids who understand their own country’s political climate and speak English better than I speak any other language not my own. These questions were sincere and revealed to me that while the world may not revolve around the United States, it certainly pays attention to Americans. From music to Lebron James the Lebanese players are acutely aware of what they perceive to be American values. As one kid told me on the bus, “It’s education first and anything else second…” I was like, “I get it.” In some ways I’d say these young guys look up to us. In other ways, I think that if they knew the deficits we have in the United States where character is concerned they might be less inclined to idolize. Needless to say, these kids were real. They didn’t flatter their own country like patriots tend to do. They highlighted the Lebanese colleges and admitted some other visceral feelings about the political system thee. They wondered why Americans think of Arabs as terrorists when few are. They clued me in to a part of my personhood that needs development.