Naomi Shihab Nye, “Red Brocade”
[Text ID: “The Arabs used to say, When a stranger appears at your door, feed him for three days before asking who he is, where he’s come from, where he’s headed. That way, he’ll have strength enough to answer. Or, by then your’ll be such good friends you don’t care.”]
When my bibi first fled Iraq for Austria she housed a homeless alcoholic for a week. She fed him and cared for him, and everyone advised against it. They didn’t even speak the same language, but she continued to care for him. He came back to her home years later, this time he was sober and told my aunt he got sober because of my grandmothers help. An immigrant Muslim woman in a country so hostile toward her cared for him when his own people wouldn’t. These are the stories I have to remind myself to center now more than ever.
