With Politics and Culture

           A while ago my sisters and I were having a political discussion (or the semblance of a political discussion a few teenagers can muster) and the conversation lead to me mentioning the Taliban, upon which the conversation came to a halt. Because, to my surprise, my sisters didn't know what the Taliban was. We proceeded on a tangent of me explaining the history of Afghanistan and the Taliban, but the conversation never quite left my mind. Not because of the depressing state of the region, but because I  knew who the Taliban are. I  knew, and my sisters didn’t. I didn't understand how it could be so. My sisters and I are subjected to the same culture. How is it that I am more politically aware than they are?

      I retraced my thought process and tried to remember where I had first heard about the Taliban. Turns out I had only heard about them in passing before the summer of 2009; the summer I read A Thousand Splendid Suns and The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini. After reading them, I was so intrigued by the politics of Afghanistan that I took to Google. And surely enough, a few wiki pages later and I had learned all about the region, from the fall of the Soviet Union, to the US ambush.

            That might seem like a trivial meaningless ramble by a teenager who reads way too much into things. But that isn't entirely true. There are two things that could be taken from this anecdote of sheltered teens: One is that books are useful. Yeah, yeah, we know. But the point is, books are more useful than they seem. Not only do they allow you to read up on things you find interesting, but they introduce you to things that might interest you. Take as an example the aforementioned books. I had originally felt guilty for reading them because they are melodramatic pieces of fiction more akin to an Indian movie than to educational texts. Yet they educated me on politics better than any news agency ever had. They allowed me to realize that I want to learn about the world around me.

            Second of all: I still remember! 4 years later, I still remember what I had read on the Taliban. And given my memory that is nothing short of a miracle. Except it isn’t. This is the amazing thing about education and the human brain in general; if you want to learn something you will remember it forever. If you make the effort, on your own accord, to learn something, you will rarely ever forget it.*

             So to sum things up: Read all the things to learn all the things.

*Birthdays and names are not subject to this rule.