I’d forgotten about the trading Arabs and their exposure to other cultures–to the difference of others. Took a communications course a long time ago and the understanding was that writing was invented to record trades among people who may not see each other for long times. Today we think of commerce or business as neutral to bad but as a trader with contacts all over an uncharted world it must have been an exciting (and dangerous) life. By writing obligations down a system could be established that could have categories of trust for each category of “stranger.”

History of trade could be a great source of material for learning to accommodate the existence and benefits of strangers. A trader may not like someone else but the “value” of knowing them can at first be the advantage of mutually beneficial trade–a very different mindset than simply attacking and pillaging to get what you want.

Ramadan for friends in Edmonton which is south of us: sunrise 5:12 am / sunset !0:04 pm. Long day.