Nora: Journal 15

Today was a day of acceptance, understanding, and prosperity. I'm just kidding. Some guy at the Hometown Buffet made a rude comment towards Hadyeh and Asma upon seeing them and noticing that they wore headscarves. Something along the lines of "You damn foreigners." There is more than one flaw with this ignorant statement. One major flaw would be that not everyone in America is white. Crazy, right? Sure, some people wear a hijab, but that doesn't mean they are not American citizens; that just means they're Muslim. Also, I think it is an issue that to this day, ignorance and closed- mindedness persist. Especially in America. We can't get past judging a person by their outer appearance, their religion, their race, their ethnicity, and so on and so forth. What I especially loved was when we left and took our business somewhere else and Mrs. Ariss talked to the owner, and then Mr. Graham confronted the guy (very maturely, of course). This is just one of the many reasons I love our school. We don't stand for intolerance. For real. It's not just something we say, and it's not just another box to check on our list of things so the whole world can see. Tolerance, acceptance, and diversity are things we truly value, and it's something we put into practice when situations like this occur. I admit, I did get really angry. It angers me that such an attitude would exist today, and especially in America; you know, the melting pot, land of the free, home of the brave, land of opportunity and the American dream? It should make everyone angry. Because I'm a very tolerant person (or accepting; saying that I'm tolerant makes it sound like there was something wrong that didn't deserve respect in the first place) but the only thing that I just can't tolerate is intolerance. But we had a lot of fun at East of Chicago. I really enjoyed the conversations we had.

At the Padua Center, we put up the Christmas tree. But first we had to move some things around. Like a treadmill. And due to our past with boys doing the heavy lifting, I called dibs on the treadmill. I did get it to roll, but little did I know that the direction it would roll was towards me. I basically backed myself into a wall. Then Mr. Graham proceeded to successfully move it. In my defense, I did try to help get it through the door (says I in playful indignation). We spent a short time there. The church was amazing. I'm not a religious person, but something about a church and the glass windows and all the intricate design is just so amazing and inspiring. I don't know why. It's just this whole spiritual environment. I had my first experience in a confessional; that has always intrigued me. I've always just wanted to go for confession just for the sake of experiencing it. It's all very interesting. But seriously, that church was so amazing.