Tuesday, July 18, 2006
Changing a Cycle
I am a Muslim convert. My father is a non-believer of pretty much anything. My father's father was a dedicated member of the Ku Klux Klan. I never met him. He died back in the fifties long before I was born, and I really don't know what my Dad thought of him because my Dad is very closed-mouthed when it comes to family history. Sad, but true. Which indicates to me that there were issues. I don't know if those issues had to do with the KKK, or if they had to do with members of the family forcing "religion" at him. (Christianity, of course, as that is my family's background.) I do know that as long as I've known my father, he has had certain issues with race, not because he necessarily believes it, but, rather, he mimics what he learned as a young man. He was taught that "blacks (I will NEVER use the word that I've substituted) are thieves, Mexicans (again, sub-word) are sneaky...etc." (you get the point). So, he carries on in his speech what was drilled in his head. I also know that in his own strange little way, he has fought against these things by what he has learned on his own about people. He has also had the largely unexpected thrust at him in later years as he has sat back and witnessed his "sugar Buger" (me) marry a dark Arab and become a Muslim. (Actually becoming Muslim came before marrying Karim). He really likes my husband, and I have not heard him saying bad things about the Arabs since he has met him. As gentle and beautiful as my father is, he must have learned THOSE graces from somewhere besides his mother, who died when he was eight-years old. I suppose, then, in many ways, there were good things, redeeming things, about my grandfather, and it is really very unfortunate that he never ventured outside of his small box of racism to see what the world and its people were like. I know that if things stayed the same after death, granddad would be flipping cartwheels in his coffin right about now over my conversion to Islam, but they don't stay the same. Now, Grandfather is aware of it all, and I am sure he regrets his hatred. I am more than positive that he has knowledge of the truth of God, and that all races are related to that truth.
It's interesting that I didn't pick up on it. But, I think that in itself is proof of God's love and power. Even as a child I chastised my father for his racial slurs, and corrected them. It wasn't political correctness, as children don't understand the concept of politics and what is "socially acceptable". It was love. It still is. I always will be.
It's interesting that I didn't pick up on it. But, I think that in itself is proof of God's love and power. Even as a child I chastised my father for his racial slurs, and corrected them. It wasn't political correctness, as children don't understand the concept of politics and what is "socially acceptable". It was love. It still is. I always will be.
