Not only is there a sort of teenager vs. adult way of seeing the world, there is also an east/west and Christian/Muslim dichotomy in our home. It can really throw you.
Recently, Miriam (who does NOT even live in our home yet!) posted this picture on facebook:
I'm going to assume that when you look at this picture you probably see the same thing I do ... or ask the same question I do .... "WHY IS THE WOMAN IN THE BACK????!!!!!!"
And to be honest, it was a struggle NOT to comment on the photo (not even anyone Miriam knows, just some photo off of the internet).
After a while it occurred to me that when Miriam looks at this photo, what she sees is a family praying together. And, what she wrote (aimed at her young Muslim Moroccan friends) was: "Amazing. Hope to see it in all our families." The rough Google Translate I ran on the Arabic caption basically says, "I dream of praying with my husband and children."
To me, this photo is a challenge, a question to be answered, a bit of incomprehensible culture.
To Miriam it is a beautiful picture of a family sharing a time of faith.
So, the question remains, how do we manage to not misinterpret each other? How do we seek to understand the Morrocan/Pakistani/Muslim/teenager with our American/Christian/adult thought processes?
I wonder if she is also impressed by the "white" family praying in this photo who are typically not thought of as Muslims. I like this post.
ReplyDeleteYes! So many of her posts including pro-Islamic statements feature blond, blue-eyed children and women. Which explains to me why Joss was such a rockstar!
ReplyDeleteGREAT post!! It's making me think...
ReplyDelete