{"id":34749,"date":"2021-09-15T13:51:59","date_gmt":"2021-09-15T03:51:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.tomgrimshaw.com\/tomsblog\/?p=34749"},"modified":"2024-07-03T11:37:33","modified_gmt":"2024-07-03T01:37:33","slug":"gate-a-4-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tomgrimshaw.com\/tomsblog\/?p=34749","title":{"rendered":"GATE A-4"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"naomi_shihab_nye\"<\/a>
\nGrab your tissues and read this!
\nHow one woman helped to create, even if briefly and even if only for a few, the world most of us want to live in.<\/p>\n

Isn’t this worth emulating?<\/div>\n
\n
Wandering around the Albuquerque Airport Terminal, after learning my flight had been delayed four hours, I heard an announcement: \u201cIf anyone in the vicinity of Gate A-4 understands any Arabic, please come to the gate immediately.\u201d Well \u2014 one pauses these days. Gate A-4 was my own gate. I went there.<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
An older woman in full traditional Palestinian embroidered dress, just like my grandma wore, was crumpled to the floor, wailing. \u201cHelp,\u201d said the flight agent. \u201cTalk to her. What is her problem? We told her the flight was going to be late and she did this.\u201d<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
<\/div>\n
I stooped to put my arm around the woman and spoke haltingly.<\/div>\n
\u201cShu-dow-a, Shu-bid-uck Habibti? Stani schway, Min fadlick, Shu-bit-se-wee?\u201d 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, \u201cNo, we\u2019re fine, you\u2019ll get there, just later, who is picking you up? Let\u2019s call him.\u201d<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
We called her son, I spoke with him in English. I told him I would<\/div>\n
stay with his mother till we got on the plane and ride next to<\/div>\n
her. She talked to him. Then we called her other sons just<\/div>\n
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.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
<\/div>\n
She was laughing a lot by then. Telling of her life, patting my knee,<\/div>\n
answering questions. She had pulled a sack of homemade mamool<\/div>\n
cookies \u2014 little powdered sugar crumbly mounds stuffed with dates and nuts \u2014 from her bag \u2014 and was offering them to all the women at the gate. To my amazement, not a single woman declined one. It was like a sacrament. The traveler from Argentina, the mom from California, the lovely woman from Laredo \u2014 we were all covered with the same powdered sugar. And smiling.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
There is no better cookie.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
<\/div>\n
And then the airline broke out free apple juice from huge coolers and two little girls from our flight ran around serving it and they<\/div>\n
were covered with powdered sugar, too. And I noticed my new best friend \u2014 by now we were holding hands \u2014 had a potted plant poking out of her bag, some medicinal thing, with green furry leaves. Such an old country tradition. Always carry a plant. Always stay rooted to somewhere.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
<\/div>\n
And I looked around that gate of late and weary ones and I thought, This is the world I want to live in. The shared world. Not a single person in that gate \u2014 once the crying of confusion stopped\u2014 seemed apprehensive about any other person. They took the cookies. I wanted to hug all those other women, too.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
<\/div>\n
This can still happen anywhere. Not everything is lost.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
<\/div>\n
~ Naomi Shihab Nye<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Grab your tissues and read this! How one woman helped to create, even if briefly and even if only for a few, the world most of us want to live in. Isn’t this worth emulating? Wandering around the Albuquerque Airport Terminal, after learning my flight had been delayed four hours, I heard an announcement: \u201cIf … <\/p>\n

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