I was wrong
I met him again today. At the bus stop again. He was wearing a dishdasha, like last time, except this time it was white. And he had a nice hat on his head. This time, the circumstances were different.
Before he had arrived, I was sitting with a couple of girls from school [10th graders] on the bench at the bus stop. The dishdasha guy came in a black 4x4 with his friends in the front seats. His friends weren't very, uh, gentlemanly, and they whistled and hollered at the girls beside me on the bench. I dunno why they did that.. she wasn't even that pretty. Anyways, the girl got really angry, or at least pretended to be angry and screamed back that she wanted to slap him.
Dishdasha Guy and two of his friends who were with him in the back seat got out of the car and Dishdasha Guy shook hands with me. They stood away from the bench for a while and then Dishdasha Guy made the mistake of standing on my side of the bench. In the meantime, the girl had showed me some very ugly scratches on her left arm, with clotted blood on them. I asked her if she was emo and she nodded. The scratches were bad, worse than those on my friend Desireé's arm. Aren't boys supposed to be emo? It's times like these that I wanna stand up and scream, "Eyyyzeh muzar!" - "How weird!" but this is an Arab country, and that's Hebrew.. I'll get arrested! ;)
Anyways. So while Dishdasha Guy was standing on my side of the bench, Emo Girl got hyper without being provoked and started yelling at poor Dishdasha Guy. She said, "Either you can move your books from here [they were beside her, between her and me] or you can come here so I can slap you." Bold words. Dishdasha Guy just stared. She started saying all sorts of things like "You're all probably just streetkids, but come from decent families." Dishdasha Guy defended himself [in English] saying that he had already apologized for his friends' behavior. She wasn't ready to take it. She argued with him over absolutely nothing. The argument ended with much screaming by Emo Girl right above my head.. I was trying to be non-chalant, but was unsuccessful because the decibel level was over 120! Thanks, Emo Girl!
After Emo Girl left with her boyfriend who arrived later, Dishdasha Guy talked to me, in Urdu.
"Have you found Islam yet?"
I smiled. "No!"
Silence. He talked to his other friend.
Then he made some small talk with me about school and exams etc.
Then out of the blue, he asked me something about life and happiness. I can't quite remember his exact words, though.
"I'm happy with what I have," I said. "Are you?"
"What do I have?"
"You're living, aren't you?"
He smiled. "But I don't have anything."
"What do you need in your life?"
He shook his head. He changed the subject and said, "It really hit my heart what that girl said.. 'streetkid'."
"She was just having a bad day."
"She doesn't know anything. I'm not a streetkid. I'll go home now, sleep a bit and then go to work at 5 to Rashid Hospital. I work there till 7 in the morning and then go to school from there."
"What school are you in?"
"Cosmos [Institute]."
"What subjects do you take?"
"I'm doing O-levels."
I confessed to him that I had thought of him as a streetkid too. "But," I said, "now that I know you work and go to school, I have a little more respect for you."
Somehow, today he didn't seem so stupid, so uneducated and violent. He was calm.
Sometimes we misjudge people. We decide things about them from the first time we meet them and often that judgment sticks. It's human to do that, but it's not the best thing. We're all good inside, aren't we?
In other news, I think my little sister Sarah is going to turn out to be a lesbian. Yes. She burps aloud for everyone to hear and get disgusted and now she's counting her burps too. She reported to me that she'd burped 40 times in the whole day. The number went up by seven points by dinnertime. Butch? Lesbianly butch?
Before he had arrived, I was sitting with a couple of girls from school [10th graders] on the bench at the bus stop. The dishdasha guy came in a black 4x4 with his friends in the front seats. His friends weren't very, uh, gentlemanly, and they whistled and hollered at the girls beside me on the bench. I dunno why they did that.. she wasn't even that pretty. Anyways, the girl got really angry, or at least pretended to be angry and screamed back that she wanted to slap him.
Dishdasha Guy and two of his friends who were with him in the back seat got out of the car and Dishdasha Guy shook hands with me. They stood away from the bench for a while and then Dishdasha Guy made the mistake of standing on my side of the bench. In the meantime, the girl had showed me some very ugly scratches on her left arm, with clotted blood on them. I asked her if she was emo and she nodded. The scratches were bad, worse than those on my friend Desireé's arm. Aren't boys supposed to be emo? It's times like these that I wanna stand up and scream, "Eyyyzeh muzar!" - "How weird!" but this is an Arab country, and that's Hebrew.. I'll get arrested! ;)
Anyways. So while Dishdasha Guy was standing on my side of the bench, Emo Girl got hyper without being provoked and started yelling at poor Dishdasha Guy. She said, "Either you can move your books from here [they were beside her, between her and me] or you can come here so I can slap you." Bold words. Dishdasha Guy just stared. She started saying all sorts of things like "You're all probably just streetkids, but come from decent families." Dishdasha Guy defended himself [in English] saying that he had already apologized for his friends' behavior. She wasn't ready to take it. She argued with him over absolutely nothing. The argument ended with much screaming by Emo Girl right above my head.. I was trying to be non-chalant, but was unsuccessful because the decibel level was over 120! Thanks, Emo Girl!
After Emo Girl left with her boyfriend who arrived later, Dishdasha Guy talked to me, in Urdu.
"Have you found Islam yet?"
I smiled. "No!"
Silence. He talked to his other friend.
Then he made some small talk with me about school and exams etc.
Then out of the blue, he asked me something about life and happiness. I can't quite remember his exact words, though.
"I'm happy with what I have," I said. "Are you?"
"What do I have?"
"You're living, aren't you?"
He smiled. "But I don't have anything."
"What do you need in your life?"
He shook his head. He changed the subject and said, "It really hit my heart what that girl said.. 'streetkid'."
"She was just having a bad day."
"She doesn't know anything. I'm not a streetkid. I'll go home now, sleep a bit and then go to work at 5 to Rashid Hospital. I work there till 7 in the morning and then go to school from there."
"What school are you in?"
"Cosmos [Institute]."
"What subjects do you take?"
"I'm doing O-levels."
I confessed to him that I had thought of him as a streetkid too. "But," I said, "now that I know you work and go to school, I have a little more respect for you."
Somehow, today he didn't seem so stupid, so uneducated and violent. He was calm.
Sometimes we misjudge people. We decide things about them from the first time we meet them and often that judgment sticks. It's human to do that, but it's not the best thing. We're all good inside, aren't we?
In other news, I think my little sister Sarah is going to turn out to be a lesbian. Yes. She burps aloud for everyone to hear and get disgusted and now she's counting her burps too. She reported to me that she'd burped 40 times in the whole day. The number went up by seven points by dinnertime. Butch? Lesbianly butch?