Monday, May 26, 2014

Adventure Diary of a Muslim-American Hijabi, entry #2

Original entry on March 3, 2014

As my mom was driving and I sat in the passenger seat, we stopped at a light to turn left. The lane for oncoming traffic stopped right next to us. As the light turned green for both our lanes, a car next to us facing the other way and about to pass us stopped and the woman driving motioned for my mom to pull down her window. Her husband was visibly seen trying to stop her. My mom turned down her window and the woman said, "What you're wearing, the scarf, is so beautiful!" My mom lit up and responded, "Thank you!"

A moment later, as we turned into the parking lot of the store we were going to, we realized another car behind us was tailgating our car. We both parked. As we were walking by, the woman and her daughter gave us the dirtiest looks. They literally held eye contact with us all the way from crossing the street until we entered the store. It took everything out of me to not give both of them a piece of my mind.

There are both kind and horrible people in this world, but one good gesture, word, or even smile goes a long way, even if followed by a reminder that not everyone has good in them.

How difficult is it truly to bridge understanding and harmony between each other as brothers and sisters in humanity? Not at all.

To the kind woman who took a few seconds to make our day, I wish something good lights her day, too.