Yesterday a couple of students came to see me bearing gifts.
One of them is a Muslim, a pretty, bright senior who will be attending American U in Beirut next year. She wished me a Merry Christmas (with no apparent ill results to her psyche) and told a very funny story about her father. On their street, all the neighbors put lights in the trees and she asked her father if he would put some up so that their home wouldn't look so different. He must be a nice man, for when she came home from school that night, he had them all strung--only he had wound some around the first tree, and then, discovering he had many feet of lights left, he just walked to the next tree and started in. When he finished there, he still had a lot on that string so he walked to the house and hung them there. The house had this sort of lopsided, bad outdoor café look to it. He's an Arab, what can I say? said the student. Christmas lights must be something Christians have special religious training in.
Then she went to the door and it started playing "We Wish You a Merry Christmas." He had hooked up one of those little boxes. She went in and reminded him that they WERE Muslim and the box needed to go.
I just didn't want you to feel different, he said, which brought tears to MY eyes, though the kids just thought it was funny.
But it was such a warm story-- the family is obviously not threatened by the Christian holiday and went along with the customs easily.
I just thought gosh, we all could take a lesson. |
