judgemental

funny how you can never please everyone ..

when i was in kuwait, when i was a kid , our parents and the society has implanted a set of beliefs in us .. beliefs and principles like respecting the elderly, submitting to the parents orders , and that its wrong to have a boyfriend , that you can never question your islam or god , that women who smoke are bad women, that people will look down on me if i jogged or cycled in public .. so many ideas were inserted in our brains .. i remember asking dad about things that didnt make sense to me in quraan or in islam and he would be telling me that god made our thinking so limited thus these things will never make sense and we have to obey them , i remember times when i discovered that some friends of mine who are good people and very respectful, were smokers and i was so confused .. how could that girl be a good girl when we were taught that a girl who smokes is a bad one .. ahhh .. so many stories to be told here about how confused i was when things like these happened ..
but somehow, i managed to grew out of these beliefs .. i learned how to make my own judgements .. it wasnt easy at the beginning and i had to force my mind open to accept all these differences ... it took me years to have the open mind that i have today and guess what? its not open enough yet but definitely, im less judgmental and more accepting for others now. i knew that this is the right thing to do. i knew that no one has the right to judge others . i knew that whats right and wrong is 100% subjective thus no one can force their opinion on others and i embraced that fact.

then i came here to canada where everyone has the right to be what they want to be. people dont gossip or stare here .. you are entitled to do whatever you want, to dress the way you want or speak out loud your opinion in the middle of dundas square. the freedom here is unlimited. i was shocked when i discovered that the reality is different. people may not voice OUT their opinion but they do judge here .. because this place is so multi cultural, people are categorized and are JUDGED . thats why you would see them all grouped up .. indians would hang out with indians, asians will be having their own neighborhood and their own social group, arabs are clustered together.
not only that.. because of all the differences, people tend to sometimes to question you.. question your religion, your belief  and values and even question your choice of clothes ..

its funny how ive been questioned so many times .. and what kills me is, ive been questioned by people with similar background ! they have questioned my religion.. questioned my beliefs.. not only questioned but tried to force their opinion on me ..
i understand that you feel lthat living in canada is so liberating now that you dont have to '' follow '' what the society made you follow back home and you know what? IM SO HAPPY FOR YOU. but just because you reached to a conclusion that our religion or even traditions are so wrong, limiting and unfair, it doesnt mean that you should try to '' free '' others .
you may want to share '' the truth '' with me .. fair enough .. but dont force it on me .. dont tell me that what im doing is wrong and that im brain washed .. if you are trying to help me, i appreciate it. just tell me the facts and let me make my own decision ..
ahhh it really pisses me off !!! having to learn to keep an open mind and then coming to a country where i presumed that everyone is open minded but then bang, you end up realizing that the people here are not as accepting as you thought and that you are the only open minded person around here ..