Reflections

Four weeks ago I went to the Ponce de Leon library with my laptop, excited about beginning this journey into the exploration of the Middle East. I settled down at a table full of people and their computers and got set up to do my Found Poem. Just as I got started, a woman wearing a hijab walked up to my table and sat down next to me with her work. She was in a bad mood and glared at me.

Suddenly I was extremely embarrassed to be reading and writing a poem about Islam while she was there. It felt like she would angrily judge me for what I was doing. I tried not to let her see my screen or my rubric, but the whole time she was there it seemed like she could see straight through me. I tried to forget about her, but it was hard when I was reading a poem about an angry woman being discriminated against over her hijab and religion.

Later on, I was working on the rest of my research for this blog. I learned a lot about Islamic faith and culture compared to Christianity and Judaism. I now know that there are many different religions in the world and this woman could have been any one, including Islam. I realized that I was judging her by appearance, really just one piece of clothing. I couldn't possibly have known what her religion was just by a head scarf.

Now that I have researched these three religions and know more about the people attached to them, I feel enlightened. I started this project as an atheist, and still am, but now I have more respect for the religious lifestyles of others. The woman in the library had the right to wear the head scarf without it bugging me and the only thing I needed to be disturbed by was how angry she had been. I didn't like sitting next to the woman, but I don't think my project would have come out the same if she hadn't stormed into the library. 


Here is what I came up with - after she left:

Atheist

No, I’m not oppressed

Deal with it

It’s not the appeal to intellect through reason

It starts riots

It’s ironic

To manage the word God in a poem

It's politics and the fine art of the reactionary

Go with your gut

I think that instead of looking on the bright side of religion, I tend to look on the dark because people fight about it. I might believe in God if people stopped going to war and fighting about having a better religion or the chosen religion, or just being God's favorites. I may not believe in God, but I still believe in the basic principles for good living as taught by his messengers.