Friday, March 31

… Love your neighbor as yourself. 

Mark 12:31  New English Bible

Several years ago a woman had office space in the high school library where I worked as the media specialist.  A constant stream of students crossed the library to see her throughout the day. More gathered there after school, too.  Curious, I introduced myself and learned that Mona was a parapro from the County, assigned to work with ESL students, those for whom English was a second language.  Indeed, virtually all the students who visited her were Muslim teens from Bangladesh.  Mona was an immigrant herself, moving with her family to the USA from Egypt after graduating university, marrying, and having two children. And Mona was Muslim, too.

Mona asked me for resources for her students and we struck up a friendship.  Soon we were walking the indoor track after school together, getting in a little exercise while we shared family stories and our faith journeys.  No one else in the high school made an effort to make Mona feel welcome, even though she did a terrific job helping those ESL teens struggling with chemistry or history or English lit.  Mona would read the assigned novels--The Great Gatsby, Of Mice and Men, Shakespeare!-- and work through the themes, characters, plots, and so on, so she could help her students make sense of these foreign writings. Mona worked long hours, sat in on her students' classes, rarely took a lunch break without six kids hovering around asking for help.  

As we walked and got acquainted, I told Mona that I had always been interested in world religions and was happy to get to know a Muslim woman personally.  We found we had so much in common--love of language, devotion to family, interest in travel.  What a surprise to learn we shared the same birthday!  Mona loved to analyze people according to the Zodiac signs.  She was delighted we are both Leos and would let me know how a Leo responds to various situations.  "Of course you are doing six things at once, Diane," she would laugh. "You are a Leo! That's what we Leos do!"

After 18 months, I was transferred to the elementary school and Mona eventually left the district and pursued special certification at MSU.  She worked and traveled to classes in East Lansing for three years. She now teaches Arabic at an Arabic school in Sterling Heights.

Back in the grade school, I made it a point to be more aware of the many Muslim students.  I bought books written in both Arabic and English so any non-English-speaking parents could read with them.  I learned more about Ramadan and taught lessons about the holy month and its tenets.  I reminded teachers ordering pizza for a class treat to be sure some were cheese only, no pepperoni.  Small things.  But they seemed to mean a lot to my students.

Lately I find myself wondering how many of our country's leaders have a personal friend who is also a Muslim.  Have they shared family stories?  Swapped recipes?  Walked together? Exchanged holiday greetings? Shared a hug?

Jesus said, "Love thy neighbor."  Couldn't be more direct or simple.  Why is it so hard?

Dear God,  help us to find ways to love, to show our love, to share our love. Real ways that make a real difference in the world.  Amen.

Diane Falconer