Exotic Plant

I know a very Americanized Muslim woman, who does not wear the hijab.  She has the slightest of accents; her daughter born here.  Living in Texas, she has become cautious about letting people know she is Muslim. The mosque in one of the adjoining suburbs was vandalized last year, the torn pages of a Koran, covered in feces, thrown in front of the building.  Altho many in the community came together in support of their Muslim neighbors, the incident heightened fears in the Muslim population.  Once, a stranger driving by yelled at her, "Go back where you came from!!!!"

We, as human beings, seem to be hardwired to separate people into "Us" and "Them," to recognize those who are members of our own tribe as opposed to those who are "Other." This woman has become, to some at least, the possibly dangerous "Other."  A conversation with her inspired this sketch.

In the sketch, titled "Exotic Plant," a woman, wearing a hijab, hides screened behind a large leaf.   The word "exotic" from Dictionary.com: "of foreign origin or character; not native, introduced from abroad, but not fully naturalized or acclimatized."  The word "plant" refers most commonly to flora, but can also be used as a word of suspicion.  Again, from Dictionary.com: "A person placed secretly in a group or organization as by a foreign government, to obtain internal or secret information, stir up discontent, etc."  In the western world today, the broader culture has come to see every Muslim as an object of suspicion. 

Long ago, a man asked Jesus the question, "Who is my neighbor?"  This woman is not my enemy, she is my neighbor.  And, even if she were my enemy, Jesus said on another occasion, "Love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you."  In the King James version: "Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you and persecute you."  Perhaps these are the hardest words He ever said.