The Other Candidate

I was in the State of New Jersey over the weekend for an event with ADC New Jersey chapter. It was a wonderful event, the two US Senators for NJ were present, the popular governor of the State was present, and one of Ralph Nader was the keynote speaker. I enjoyed sharing the table with Mr. Nader and hearing some of his wisdom, he is a likable guy and not as crazy as the media shows him sometimes. We talked about, US politics, Gaza and the situation there, the food and I even asked him if he exercise because he does! He is in a good shape. He said he walked a lot everywhere. I have heard that he has never owned a car, so I got to asked him if that was true. He smiled and said the last car I owned was a 1949. He even talked with passion about his trip to speak at the BYU graduation, the alternative commencement (If you recall, Dick Cheney was the keynote speaker in April 2007 graduation-the time I graduated) Nader was excited that I knew of that. He spoke about his books and his family and how they brought him up, and that Arabs would be proud of their parents and their hard work. His speech barely touched on politics, but there was a brief moment where he took jabs at the Bush administration (who wouldn't)

Nader also spoke about the minority that likes to wave flags in people faces, and use patriotism to define what America is. He talked about his father who owned and operated a diner, he used to tell him Patriotism is deeds and people should spend more time proving their patriotism, and less time talking about it.

It was a great event, and what made is even better, the food was wonderful and tasty...Chicken with Eggplant and Some sort of awesome fish! Nader was not sure that what he was about to eat was eggplant...I drove there with my colleagues Abed and Nabil, the trip on the road was about 4 and half hours.

Of course for an Arab to go to Paterson is an honor, because there are so many Arabic grocery stores, markets and restaurants. I spent about 200 dollars on food, but it is worth it and money well spent. I also had the joy of meeting many young professional, charismatic Arab Americans, which was a treat to talk with people that only can make you proud to relate to.

I do not understand though why some many Arabs live in that part of the world…why not beautiful places like Utah, Washington, Oregon. I told my friends in the way back that, if I had a choice to live in Gaza or Newark, New Jersey, I will most likely start packing my bags to go to Gaza.

A quote that Nader used in his speech, he attributed it to the European sources "Without people change is impossible, and without institutions’ nothing lasts." I thought this is a meaningful one