Mr. Jackson clears his throat to no avail. Realizing the futility
of calming the unruly mob in front of him with his mere presence, the
teacher falls back to Plan B: a loud voice. “Everyone, take your seats! I
understand that you all just came back from lunch, but that doesn’t mean
you need to act like children. Naveed, stop talking, I’m trying to teach up
here!” I glance up at the mention of my name. Smiling at my classmates,
I reply, “Whenever you’re ready, Mr. Jackson, I’m all ears!” He sighs at my
cheekiness without any real vehemence and then turns to the smartboard
at the front and center of the room to begin his lecture. I chuckle silently
to myself, musing about the intricacies of the classroom dynamic.
I am in many respects the class clown, yet I am also the star
pupil. Intelligence, I suppose, does not translate to maturity. So far in my
sophomore year in high school I have certainly embodied this idea for my
teachers who are equally charmed and exasperated by my incorrigible wit
and my ceaseless attempts to undermine the class. But hey, what teenage
boy doesn’t have attitude problems? For the first year in middle school I
never talked to anyone, instead wandering silently through the hallways
with my nose buried in a book, navigating with peripheral vision alone.
If anything, it is a minor miracle that I am managing good grades along
with a healthy social life in high school, considering my introverted
personality. I guess putting on a façade of sociability in 7th grade has
transformed the perceptions others have of me. This veneer has gradually
burrowed its way into my heart. Now I am no longer petrified by the
thought of conversation, but rather I embrace it. After all, people are
nothing more than living books, waiting to be read by a compassionate
eye. At least, that is how I like to think of it. It helps me, alright?
Snapping out of my daydream, I turn my attention back to Mr.
Jackson, who is reviewing the lecture from last class. I glance desperately
at the smartboard in an attempt to figure out what I have missed, but the
teacher switches to the next slide headlined by the word “Objectives.” “...
and now we can move on to today’s topic: the foundation of the religion
of Islam. To understand the modern day unrest in the Middle East, we
have to first understand the origins and impact of this faith on the global
scale. In the year 570, at the city of Mecca in the Arabian Peninsula, the
Prophet Muhammad, as he would come to be called, began preaching a
belief system that was strictly monotheistic. He proclaimed that all idols
should be destroyed and that everyone had to abandon their religion and
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