March 14, 2005

The Karachi KidIssues

For those of you who have never had the privilege of listening to the radio program This American Life, you are missing out on quite simply the best radio program on U.S. airways. If you have listened to the program, in your car perhaps, you are sitting in front of your computer nodding your head in agreement right now. This past weekend one of the three acts in a program titled “Should I Stay or Should I Go,” featured a young man from Pakistan making his first trip home after traveling to the United States for an education. He reflects on the freedoms and opportunity he has been given in the U.S. versus the desire to return home and to be with his family. He has changed a great deal, as has the society he had left behind. He attends a party with vodka flowing and 50 cent’s music playing, and yet is shunned when he goes to speak to a girl at the party (you can’t go up to a girl in an Islamic culture he explains). At the heart of this story is a choice. Does he return to his native Pakistan and “serve his country,” or does he explore his full potential in the U.S? Should he stay or should he go? By the end of the story he decides and gives the rationale for his decision. Put your headphones on right now. Tune out work, and tune in to his story.

Note: the story is in the first act of the radio program and starts at 4 min and 45 sec and ends at 25 min and 15 seconds.

abhi on March 14, 2005 03:11 PM in Issues · T·r·a·c·k·b·a·c·k address · Direct link · Email post