An Open Letter to My Egyptian Bawab

I know what you think of me. Well, I actually don’t. I can’t read your mind, but I can definitely read your condescending looks. It’s understandable, I grew up in a time and place that is worlds apart from yours. While we might both be Arab, we might as well be of different races since the culture we share has very few similarities. I understand that, I accept that, and I respect the way you chose to live your life, but can you learn to respect mine?

Yes, I don’t live an as an orthodox Arab, but what does that even mean anymore? Is our society built around the idea that men should bring home the bread and women should stay home and tend to the house, because it’s definitely not the world I live in. I, just like you, wake up every morning, head to work, and bust my ass to make a living. We live the same routine, it’s just that our time outside that route differentiates.

Yes, I have parties. Yes, I drink. And yes, I host the opposite sex in my house. Does any of that make me a bad person. Or just because it doesn’t align with your lifestyle and ideals, it’s presumably wrong.

You can’t police my life, you can only give me condescending looks, and those are the looks I will never return your way. I don’t care how you live your life, who you talk to outside the building, if you yell at your kids or spend hours on the phone. That’s YOUR life, I have no say in it and I’m not permitting myself to have an opinion on it, if only you could do the same…

WE SAID THIS: Don’t miss out on 11 Phrases Your Egyptian Bawab Has Probably Said To You.