I met a very interesting man on Friday. He is a taxi driver, but was previously a restauranteur. As it turns out I know the restaurant. He sold it to enable him to focus on his family, which will become clearer.
My taxi driver is an Afghani by birth. He was eight years of age when he arrived in Australia. He’s also a Muslim. He’s well educated and successful. It was obvious he came from a good family. He considers himself a ridgy didge Aussie.
Like me, my taxi driver is an LNP supporter and like me he isn’t impressed with our ex PM Abbott or our current PM Turnbull. He will continue to support the LNP (with some reservations). We have that in common. As a legal immigrant he is very committed to keeping our borders safe. He worked for a period of time (during the Labor years) as an interpreter on Christmas Island and in WA. This experience seemed to strengthen his support for stopping the boats.
We talked at length about the ‘Afghanistan’ he remembered as a child. His family had wealth. His father ran an airline, but not long after the Russian invasion of 1979 they arrested his father and jailed him for three years. He was very critical of what was happening in his country. His father was just one of thousands rounded up and jailed. Upon the release of his father, the family applied for asylum. They were accepted by Australia. They had to leave everything behind to make a new life where they could be safe from persecution and war.
My taxi driver worked hard, studied and made a successful life for himself in the country he loves, Australia. He married and has children, the eldest a son. As a father, he’s worried about his son and radicalisation. He said he feels like a spy constantly on the alert for any signs that his son is being influenced by radicals. He shared his fears that despite the efforts made by himself and his wife, his son may still be ensnared in the web of radicalisation. The thought of this happening understandably fills him with horror.
The family isn’t overly religious. But he explained that he spends a lot of time trying to educate his son on how radicals use the Koran to manipulate the gullible. Like so many others who use religious text in an attempt to frame an argument radicals don’t provide the context. My taxi driver tries to do that. He believes he is winning, but admits it's a constant battle between parents and the lure of master manipulators.
His story reminded me of the struggle one of my family members had with their heroin addicted son. Their constant vigil. The guilt they felt in searching his room. Reading his emails, etc. Despite their efforts, their son still managed to obtain drugs. This went on for years. It almost destroyed the family and the scars still remain. Nothing changed until the son decided he had to get off drugs. Thankfully he eventually did break his habit and he is now leading a productive life.
It also reminded me of Hitler and how he was able to manipulate millions of people. He was charismatic, and he found the lure to suck in people. The reasons why people followed Hitler were many and varied. From all I’ve read about the subject it's the same with ISIS followers. Some are certainly disenfranchised, others are idealistic (creating their own state). Peer pressure plays a role. Ignorance I suspect is up there. Just plain gullible perhaps. It's reasonable to assume there is a good smattering of just plain evil amongst the recruits. But many come from good families and that's the biggest challenge. Thousands who followed Hitler didn’t believe what they heard about his atrocities. You hear much the same from radicalised youth about ISIS.
I guess the message for me was. Unless you have been in the situation of managing what this man is trying to deal with, we really can’t appreciate just how hard it is. There are parents who are prepared to give up a lot in their efforts to protect their children. That includes Muslim parents. My taxi driver certainly has. I hope he and his wife are successful in keeping their son on the ‘straight and narrow’. He told me he isn’t the only one in their circle of friends trying to protect their children from the evils of radicalisation. Who would be in their shoes. It's must be simply awful.
They do say “Sometimes people comes to your life for a moment. It matters not how much time they spent with you but how they impacted your life in that time.” True. My taxi driver was one such person. I learnt something important from him. That is, don’t be so quick to judge. We never know what others a trying to deal with.
