I just watched the movie/ documentary "A Prince Among Slaves".
I am thinking a lot of things but the chief among them is the thought or idea of all the Muslims who came before me in this country to make it possible for me to breathe free and hold my head up high now as a person who wasn't born here and has no connection to this land. A foreigner. An immigrant. A person who left her roots and settled halfway across the world in a place where no one knew of her existence before they met her. Here, she has found love, hospitality, generosity, a place in hearts and minds, a place to breathe, spread her wings and broaden her horizons, mental and physical.
None of this was my right. None of it a God-given right in the land where I was born. For my son, perhaps. But for me, no. For I was not born here. I did not come here of my own accord. And I did not adopt this land as mine of my complete unadulterated free will. Who I am, where I am from and to where and whom I belong is a separate story, but 'it', for sure, is not 'here'. This is where, at this point in my story, and this land's story, I am. For here and for now, it belongs to me and I belong to it. But in the entirety of my being, I am many places, many souls, many stories.
And now I wonder, why I ended up having the privilege of benefiting from the sacrifices and labors of those who plowed this land before me, so when I arrived, it was fertile for me. Perhaps, the question I really want to ask, is not 'why'. As the movie described the people of faith, they always end up finding faith, no matter how obscure, in Divine wisdom. And whoever I am, I am a person of faith. I think the question I am grappling with is 'what do I do with this?' - this might, privilege, burden, honor, debt, responsibility that has been placed on my shoulders, what do I do with it? and how?
That is what I sit with tonight, as I bid the world good night.
I am thinking a lot of things but the chief among them is the thought or idea of all the Muslims who came before me in this country to make it possible for me to breathe free and hold my head up high now as a person who wasn't born here and has no connection to this land. A foreigner. An immigrant. A person who left her roots and settled halfway across the world in a place where no one knew of her existence before they met her. Here, she has found love, hospitality, generosity, a place in hearts and minds, a place to breathe, spread her wings and broaden her horizons, mental and physical.
None of this was my right. None of it a God-given right in the land where I was born. For my son, perhaps. But for me, no. For I was not born here. I did not come here of my own accord. And I did not adopt this land as mine of my complete unadulterated free will. Who I am, where I am from and to where and whom I belong is a separate story, but 'it', for sure, is not 'here'. This is where, at this point in my story, and this land's story, I am. For here and for now, it belongs to me and I belong to it. But in the entirety of my being, I am many places, many souls, many stories.
And now I wonder, why I ended up having the privilege of benefiting from the sacrifices and labors of those who plowed this land before me, so when I arrived, it was fertile for me. Perhaps, the question I really want to ask, is not 'why'. As the movie described the people of faith, they always end up finding faith, no matter how obscure, in Divine wisdom. And whoever I am, I am a person of faith. I think the question I am grappling with is 'what do I do with this?' - this might, privilege, burden, honor, debt, responsibility that has been placed on my shoulders, what do I do with it? and how?
That is what I sit with tonight, as I bid the world good night.
Comments
Post a Comment