My sister was on the train yesterday with the girls

[conuly]

and seated next to this really awful woman who was saying awful things about her and generally everybody.

When a Muslim woman got on, the awful woman continued being awful, adding blatant bigotry and "well, I sure won't give her a seat!" when the woman hadn't even asked for one. So Jenn offered her a seat. And when they got off the train they were talking and chatting and Jenn helped her get her bags up the stairs, and when Ana complimented her headscarf she opened her bag and gave one to each of the girls.

Which is freaking adorable, by the way, if a little awkward because, of course, they aren't Muslim.

My mother took them to get Chinese food today, and of course they were wearing these awesome new hijab because you simply can't convince those two NOT to put things on their heads (though it might get fewer comments than the pink wig), and found that when you have two children in headscarves it is actually very difficult to convince the cashier to ring up an order of pork dumplings. He kept saying "I don't think that's good for them" and my mother wasn't sure how to convey "no, they're just dressed up...." in a way other people would believe!

So no pork dumplings for Ana and Eva, poor dears.

Comments

[zhelana]

That is actually kind of adorable.

[conuly]

I know!

[siderea]

AHAHAHAHAHAHAH.

I swear, the temptation would be to reply, "It's okay. They're Jewish."

[conuly]

...

That might actually be evil.

[oneill]

Had a rough day at work, and this made me smile. Thanks.

[conuly]

I try : )

[redbird]

That is vastly amusing: the Muslim woman, your nieces, and the cashier all meant well, but the girls don't quite get the symbolism of that piece of clothing. (The "geek answer syndrome" part of me is coming up with answers like "yes, the girls are wearing hijab, but these are for me/but I'm not" in the hope that the cashier would figure something like "mixed marriage, she's watching her granddaughters." But I assume it was pretty clear that the dumplings were for Ana and Eva.)

[conuly]

Ana would kill to eat those pork dumplings, they're pretty delish. (Well, she'd kill a human who stood in her way. She probably wouldn't kill the actual pig.) So she might well have been jumping around chanting "pork dumplings! Pork dumplings!" while my mom tried to order.

[houseboatonstyx.livejournal.com]

Oh, that's sweet! I suppose the cashier was Chinese, therefore unlikely to be Muslim?

Reminds me of something in the Screwtape Letters, about a hotbed of people all trying to suopport each other's beliefs.

[conuly]

I think so. Actually, it's a bit strange because that particular place has a habit of hiring college students to handle the registers, and thus usually doesn't have a huge language issue. So I don't know why my mother had trouble communicating the idea to them. But maybe all the college students were off today or something, leaving the front manned by the immigrants (whose English is worlds better than my Chinese!)

[dandelion.livejournal.com]

That is the funniest and most adorable thing I've heard in a while!

[conuly]

You and me both.

[marveen.livejournal.com]

Uh. Something about this makes me uneasy, perhaps because I can't reconcile "just dressing up" with respect for other religions.

For instance, I would never don a yarmulke, not for "fun" or for Hallowe'en or whatever reason. It's an important article of faith to some people. Likewise, I think dressing up as clergy (as in off-the-shelf costumes around Hallowe'en) is in rather poor taste.

I mean, yes, she did give them the headscarves, but....

Meh. It's hard to articulate. Food for thought, any road.

[conuly]

"I mean, yes, she did give them the headscarves, but...."

That's pretty much the conclusion Jenn eventually came to after going through that exact thought process. And really, it would be hard to take them FROM the girls after she gave them these headscarves on the grounds that it is disrespectful to the person who gave them to them.

Lots of women cover their heads for modesty reasons, not just Muslims. So in a way, I guess, it's... equal opportunity mimicking?