Last night I dreamed

Last night I dreamed that I was dating an Americanized Muslim, of middle eastern descent. It was clear that we were genuinely in love, so we got married. I converted to Islam and began wearing the hijab willingly, even happily, and took an Arabic name. We had a small gathering to introduce our families, and he pronounced my new name for my family to hear, so they could call me by it. There was acceptance and love from both of our families.

I guess my view of “Arabs” is different from many people because of the time I spent in the middle east as a teenager. I met many kind, thoughtful family-oriented people while I was there. I also had some spit at my feet whenever we ventured out to the suq. You just can’t paint them all with the same terrorist brush any more than you can paint all the Christians here because of the few so-called pro-lifers who bomb abortion clinics and shoot doctors. Or maybe you do. But I don’t.