As some of you know, I was born in Italy to an American Father and Italian Mother. I was raised in Europe so I come for a family that speaks English as a second or sometimes third language so I had to share this lovely story by Naomi Shihab Nye In the wake of all that is happening in the world – this could be my mom or yours or anyones…#Peace
Wandering around the Albuquerque Airport Terminal, after learning my flight had been delayed four hours, I heard an announcement: “If anyone in the vicinity of Gate A-4 understands any Arabic, please come to the gate immediately.” Well— one pauses these days. Gate A-4 was my own gate. I went there.
An older woman in full traditional Palestinian embroidered dress, just like my grandma wore, was crumpled to the floor, wailing. “Help,” said the flight agent. “Talk to her . What is her problem? We told her the flight was going to be late and she did this.”
I stooped to put my arm around the woman and spoke haltingly. “Shu-dow-a, shu-bid-uck, habibti? Stani schway, min fadlick, shu-bit-se-wee?” The minute she heard any words she knew, however poorly used, she stopped crying. She thought the flight had been cancelled entirely. She needed to be in El Paso for major medical treatment the next day. I said, “No, we’re fine, you’ll get there, just late, who is picking you up? Let’s call him.”
We called her son, I spoke with him in English. I told him I would stay with his mother till we got on the plane. She talked to him. Then we called her other sons just for the fun of it. Then we called my dad and he and she spoke for a while in Arabic and found out of course they had ten shared friends. Then I thought just for the heck of it why not call some Palestinian poets I know and let them chat with her? This all took up two hours.
She was laughing a lot by then. Telling about her life, patting my knee, answering questions. She had pulled a sack of homemade mamool cookies— little powdered sugar crumbly mounds stuffed with dates and nuts— from her bag and was offering them to all the women at the gate. To my amazement, not a single traveler declined one. It was like a sacrament. The traveler from Argentina, the mom from California, the lovely woman from Laredo— we were all covered with the same powdered sugar. And smiling. There is no better cookie.
Then the airline broke out free apple juice and two little girls from our flight ran around serving it and they were covered with powdered sugar too. And I noticed my new best friend— by now we were holding hands— had a potted plant poking out of her bag, some medicinal thing, with green furry leaves. Such an old country traveling tradition. Always carry a plant. Always stay rooted to somewhere.
And I looked around that gate of late and weary ones and thought, This is the world I want to live in. The shared world. Not a single person in that gate— once the crying of confusion stopped— seemed apprehensive about any other person. They took the cookies. I wanted to hug all those other women too.
 |
| Naomi Shihab Nay |
This can still happen anywhere. Not everything is lost.
Gate A-4 By Naomi Shihab Nye from http://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/airport-anger-at-gate-4-a/(This story originally published at Gratefulness.org)
Photo's for reference only.
********************************
We’re committed to building a better future & highlighting the best of the best of us. We're always looking for great people to feature on this blog…Please send a message
CONNECT with us, JOIN the conversation,
SUBSCRIBE to our YouTube Channel to see more!
Thanks for watching and subscribing,
Linda Kruse
KRUSING AMERICA
Creator / Producer / Director
FOLLOW us on Twitter @KrusingAmerica @lindamkruse @AtticusProd
LIKE us on Facebook
No comments:
Post a Comment