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Teach those children!


"Perhaps travel cannot prevent bigotry, but by demonstrating that all peoples cry, laugh, eat, worry, and die, it can introduce the idea that if we try and understand each other, we may even become friends."
-Maya Angelou

 I have a lot of places I could start with this. A lot. But I'm going to start by telling a little story about something that happened with me today. I was out eating lunch and when I stood up to toss my trash away, there stood a 12 or 13 year old girl next to me with her mother. As I waited in the line for the dispenser, the young girl just stared at me. People stare all the time, but usually when you look at them, telling them you notice them looking and they shouldn't, they turn away and leave you alone. But this girl kept staring even when I looked at her. And do you know what her mother did? Nothing.

 This reminds me of another story that happened with my mother's friend. A little boy once pointed at her and cried and his mother looked at who he was crying at and she shushed him and quickly left. 

 I just want to know, do these parents not teach their children it's rude to stare or do they not teach their children everyone is equal? Just because we have scarves wrapped around our heads doesn't make us aliens or freaks of nature. We're EXACTLY the same as everyone else. As the girl kept staring at me, I desperately wanted to know what she was thinking about. I really wanted to know if she noticed me looking back at her, clearly annoyed after smiling the first time and she didn't smile back. She just kept staring. 

 This made me realize that some parents really don't educate their children about these things. They don't tell them that there are other people from different countries who are Americans just like us and we should treat them the way we'd treat anyone else. I don't have a problem with children who are curious. In fact, I respect them for having the confidence to ask questions, which is what happened to me once at the gym. Obviously, as I ran on the track among girls in tank tops and tights, he wondered why I was so covered. But that was okay. It was more than okay! I gave him and answer, and we both left feeling satisfied. 

 However, it just bothers me the amount of ignorance some people have to not even take the time to explain to their kids what they should and shouldn't do. And hey, maybe it's not that big of a deal. But the young girl could have parents who are white supremacists or that little boy's parents could be Islamaphobs. Whatever it may be, it shocks me that after so many years of Muslims living here that some people still stare like they've never seen us before. Especially when it comes from adults. 

 What am I supposed to think about that? Of course, despite everything that I've said in this post, I am and I always will remain to be a person who is open to people's questions and who smiles at those who don't understand me and try to help them understand. But I just really wish others would do the same. 

 -Wishful Dreamer

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