The Experience of Conflict Changes People's Priorities

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The experience of conflict changes people’s priorities Throughout a person’s lifetime, they are bound to have developed a way of prioritizing things. Whether his/her priorities are due to the way they were brought up or perhaps through religion, it is certain that they already have a system in place. However the exposure to conflict can sometimes cause an issue and force us to rethink our priorities. During a time of conflict, the need to survival might precede everything else. The aftermaths of conflicts can also change the way we view and value things. Past experience and contrasting beliefs could possibly be a catalyst for the way we prioritize things. Asylum seekers are a prime example of someone who has to flee their country to avoid being persecuted maybe due to the fact that there is a contrasting religion, political opinion or race. They are a group of people, who due to conflict, have fled their home country in search for a safer place to live. An example can be drawn from Najaf Mazari’s memoir “The Rugmaker of Mazar – e – Sharif” where the protagonist, Najaf, is an asylum seeker. Najaf comes from the Northern part of Afghanistan in a city of Mazar- e-Sharif and is a very down to earth person. He is someone who puts his family, religion and country as one of his top priorities. This all changes though when the Taliban begin to take control over Afghanistan and begin to capture and torture all the Hazara people. Surviving the ordeal once, Najaf’s family comes to the conclusion that it is too dangerous for him to stay in Afghanistan and they must send him away. Due to the conflict between the Hazara and the Taliban, Najaf is forced to abandon his previous priorities, his family and his love of his country behind in order to survive. Ultimately conflict has resulted in Najaf prioritising survival on top of everything else. Often survivors of
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