An Eye for an Eye

I am taking a class with a woman who wears a headscarf (hijab). Of course, I would never question her right to do so. However, I must admit that before she told us her story during an improv exercise, I had thought of the hijab as nothing more than a symbol of oppression. Here are some of the thoughts I had afterward.

The blue silk rectangle transforms as you tell me your story.

 "My mother gave this to me," you smile.

The softness covers your head and caresses your cheeks.

"I wear it for my God," you brighten.

"9-11 didn't give him the right to do that," your eyes blaze.

He really screamed at you?

"Take off that f....ing veil," he taunted repeatedly.

He really said that?

You are absolutely right. He did not have the right to intimidate you.

 

My friend's ex-husband also did not have the right to tear the cross from her wall because he said she was "brainwashing the kids."

The Florida condo association also did not have the right to prohibit a Jewish woman from hanging a religious symbol (mezuzah) on the outside of her door.

You wear it to connect with your God?

Just as my friend's mezuzah connects her with her God?

Just as my cross connects me with my God?

We have a lot to learn from our God.

Have you heard about the campaign for love and forgiveness? 

Underneath the Hijab.

An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind.  

Ghandi