I had an experience tonight that bothered me and made me want to question my own visceral reactions to people I do not know. I'll explain what happened, and I'd like to hear what you guys think.
My wife and I were coming out of Walmart, when a tall figure in Islamic dress of the sort worn in Afghanistan swept through the door, past us, and into the store as though going straight into a particular department.
This person had no flesh showing, save that around the eyes. The rest was all covered by a magnificent flowing costume, which appeared pristine as though it were being worn for the first time. At first I assumed it was a woman, because the dress was that of an Afghan woman; however, it could well have been a man. Based on size I'm wondering.
My first reaction was "You gotta lotta nerve coming in here like that."
My second: "Why am I judging this person I've seen only for a few seconds."
My third: "There's enough room under that costume to conceal a very large amount of contraband."
My fourth: "There's enough room under that costume to conceal a very large amount of ... " I don't want to say it.
My fifth: "This person is scoping out the area, trying to find out how people like me will react, for some specific purpose."
My sixth: "Why am I judging this person I've seen only for a few seconds?"
At home watching NCIS, a favorite, the show opened with two Ninja figures with black ski masks accosting an unknown figure. They injected his neck with a syringe. I thought to myself, I hate people in ski masks; it's just like at Walmart." Then they pulled off their ski masks and it turned out to be Ziva and DiNozzo, on an NCIS mission.
This brief encounter affected me so deeply that I'm still fretting over it.
Am I getting paranoid? Or is this a normal reaction?
What do you think?
I was completely surprised and taken aback. I did not know there was a Muslim enclave in this area. |
