I got married at 25 and left Kuwait to live in Egypt.
How exciting!
I used to joke saying that I had done 25 to Life in Kuwait.
Kuwait like many other Muslim countries is male dominant and very oppressive…like being in prison. When you live there you don’t know different…it feels like home…it feels ‘normal’.
Egypt was going to be a breath of fresh air…or so I thought.
I had just gotten myself out of prison and into a 4 year parole program with an ankle monitor…I was now on house arrest.
In 1990 Kuwait was invaded by Iraq and I found myself out of parole and drafted to the United States…Land of the Free.
Was this my saving Grace?
I was finally in the Land of the Free!
Here we have rights and shit.
We could dress as we please, we could drink alcohol freely without the fear of being deported, we could even keep our own passports, we could give someone the finger for honking, we could buy things on credit. Here we were able to buy things with someone else’s money…WOW!!!
THIS was freedom!!
I got myself into another relationship and involuntarily again back behind bars…I was a repeat offender.
This time I had conjugal visits, cruises, world wide vacations, all you can eat buffets.
This was freedom…right?
Then why did I still feel imprisoned?
Fast forward…having served another sentence of 25 to Life in the Land of the Free I got divorced and got out at year 23 on good behavior…straight into another 3 year sentence.
This time it was a 3 year sentence plus hard labor. I was such a good law abiding citizen…why were the sentences getting harsher?
Then there was a death sentence…it wasn’t mine…it might as well have been.
While I was still doing my 3 year hard labor I manage to scale the prison wall…painstakingly…and escape.
They couldn’t catch up with me…
My escape was successful.
I was 55 and had spent my entire life in the prison system.
Male dominance and oppression is not designated to ONLY Muslim Cultures or Countries…I was living it right here in the Land of the Free.
Here we have fancy words for it…narcissism, emotional abuse, manipulation, bullying etc…and still no repercussions…WOW!
My 55 years of jail time was my own self imprisonment.
I could have pardoned myself at anytime…but I didn’t.
My own thoughts, beliefs and decisions had kept me behind bars ALL my life.
My own thought process was my Prison Warden and held me captive.
Then there was Rehab… outpatient…well…I had to rehab myself.
I’ve been out free for over 2 years…and it’s taken me all that time to set my mind free from life long chains of mental bondage.
It took years of so much loss and grief to set me free from the miscarriage of justice by wrongful convictions.
I am finally FREE…
MY life…MY goals are finally ALL mine.
PS…
I was raised with many Muslim friends and Arab friends who are both Muslim and Christians and I love and cherish them and their part on my life’s journey.
You have to also remember I was immersed into the Arab Muslim culture by marriage…I lived it.
This post is about my life…my experience…my perspective.
