# 6

In the article on Afghanistan, I found the following customs to be
quite
familiar to me, as they are the same in my country:

One should not allow the remains of a corpse to be eaten by birds or
animals: It is part of the religion that the body not to be eaten by
any
kind of rodent, because otherwise, the spirit cannot go to God.

Do not display sexually explicit pictures: this is not acceptable in
our
culture, or really in any culture, I think. This is really
disrespectful.

When we see someone in pornography, or looking at it, we think that this
person only thinks about sex.

Identify, show respect to and communicate with elders. Work with
elders
to accomplish your mission: In Mexico, we always speak respectfully to
older people. We also speak the same way to people who are the same
age,
if they are colleagues or work mates.

Now, I want to say what customs I found to be very very different from
the
culture I grew up in.


Do not drink alcoholic beverages in front of Afghans/Muslims. General
order No. 1 prohibits alcohol: Most people drink in the U.S. as well as
in
Mexico. Social drinking is part of our culture. I think if I can't
drink,
I don't want to go to Afghanistan!

A non-Muslim must not perform the burial rites for a dead Muslim: I
think
this is not so common in Mexican culture. I guess if there is a
funeral,
I don't care if a person is from another religion. And if you know the
person who died, you need to pray because at that moment he is with
God.
This works, I think.

Do not stare at women, touch them or try to shake a woman's hand
(unless
she extends her hand first). To me this seems strange. I don't like
this
form of thinking because if you like a girl you don't know, how else do
you get her attention? How else are you going to meet her or get to
know
more about her life, if you can't make contact?