November 13, 2002 - The Gleaner: Iran RPCV Gordon Morrison recalls hospitality he found while in the Middle East

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Iran RPCV Gordon Morrison recalls hospitality he found while in the Middle East





Read and comment on this story from The Gleaner on RPCV Gordon Morrison who served in the Peace Corps in Iran and has visited nations stretching from Egypt to Saudi Arabia to Turkey over the past four decades. "Everywhere I've gone in the Middle East ... the characteristic I've found consistently is hospitality," Morrison told the Henderson Lions. Read the story at:

'In harmony' Local pastor recalls hospitality he found while in the Middle East*

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'In harmony' Local pastor recalls hospitality he found while in the Middle East

By CHUCK STINNETT, Gleaner staff
November 13, 2002

The Rev. Gordon Morrison knows something of living in a nation as a minority, and he hopes to learn more.

The pastor at St. Paul's Episcopal Church spent several years living in the Middle East,a Christian in a Muslim world.

Besides twice living in Iran -- once as a Peace Corps volunteer, the second time as a teacher -- Morrison has visited nations stretching from Egypt to Saudi Arabia to Turkey over the past four decades.

"Everywhere I've gone in the Middle East ... the characteristic I've found consistently is hospitality," Morrison told the Henderson Lions on Tuesday.

"At times, the hospitality for a minority resident can be overwhelming," he said. "There were times I sometimes would wish I could just be at home with my family. We were constantly being invited to people's homes."

He vividly remembers visiting Oman, Jordan, as a Peace Corps volunteer in the mid-1960s, short of cash and checking into a cheap hotel. The room was so filthy as to be uninhabitable, and Morrison returned to the front desk with his suitcase, demanding to check out and have his passport returned to him so he could leave.

The desk clerk refused, and he and Morrison argued back and forth in English awhile. Then a Jordanian joined the fray, arguing in Arabic with the desk clerk. Soon, other Arabs staying at the hotel had sided with Morrison as well.

Ultimately, Morrison compromised, agreeing to pay half the room rate, though his Jordanian allies disapproved, believing he should pay nothing. After he set off in search of new lodging, he heard a commotion behind him; a dozen or so men from the hotel were hollering at him to stop. When they caught up with him, they announced, "We have checked out, too. He has treated you badly. You are a guest in our country."

He finds such good will astonishing, given the history of the Middle East and Westerners.

"Not one border in any country in the Middle East was drawn by the people who live there," Morrison noted. "Every border was drawn by us or Europeans, and imposed on them.

"I'm a descendent of people who conducted the crusades, which went a long way toward disenfranchising the people in that part of the world. Yet I've been treated with nothing but hospitality."

His last visit to the region two years ago was to Armenia, which borders Iran and Turkey. But he and his wife, Linda, are planning in a few months to visit Syria, where their son, Gregory -- who was born in Iran -- is a foreign service officer at the U.S. Embassy in Damascus.

While seeing their 16-month-old grandson, Gabriel, is of prime interest, the Morrisons also have a special cultural interest.

"Syria has a number of ancient old towns where Christians and Muslims have lived 1,000 or more years together, in harmony," Morrison explained.

"There are some towns were they worship in the same building, in harmony. Perhaps we can come home and share that, how we can live with people of another culture, in harmony."



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