Sunday, March 01, 2009
The Pool, Continued
In case you're wondering, I've been swimming at the condo's pool several times since this happened, the most recent of these times having been this morning. I thought I'd share the good news that each of these swims was completely uneventful and unremarkable, i.e. no more angry racist swimmers trying to ban me from the pool for wearing too much. Thought I'd let y'all know.
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12 comments:
I'm glad to hear that. I can't imagine why anyne would get worked up about you wearing a suit that covers more of you! (I mena, I do understand that prejudice motivated it, I just htink it's crazy and petty.)
very cool & wonderful to read. Brings a smile to my face & re-affirms what I've always thought:most ppl are basically good, but need to be shown limits when they make mistakes & need to understand stuff better. Prejudice is a sad, pathetic thing, but it's a reality & it has roots and causes that need to be dealt with. Swimming in your suit while being polite & friendly is worth more than a million anti-racism workshops. Let's live our lives and try to be good doing that & always always give ppl the benefit of the doubt.
HH
I was just telling my daughter about that last episode because she was wondering what women who wear hijabs wear when they go swimming and what happens when they have to have surgery or have a physical or give birth AND she was wondering about the ones who cover their entire face -- how do they get their passport photos taken?? So many questions. I was glad I was able to answer one of them at least.
COTW, yes, I found it pretty wacky too, and yet it was soooooooooo important to stay calm through out the whole ordeal even though I was saddened and hurt (and a bit angry, if I allow myself to be competely honest)...
HH, I agree with you 100% about how much more effective we are "breaking" racism by just being ourselves and being good vs. workshops and theory... In the smallest ways too: I try to remember to smile when I'm outside, just because it's nice for whomever is walking past me the other way to get that smile...
XUP, so many questions and to be honest, I don't know the answers to all of them (the passport photo one throws me for a loop). As for medical stuff, many Muslim women are more comfortable with a female doctor, but many aren't concerned either way, and medical situations are considered valid exceptions to break the hijab rules... Hope that helps ;)
XUP, they have to show their faces for the passport photos. This surfaced as an issue in the press when Harper last year made a press issue out of it saying that he wouldn't compromise national security by allowing them to keep on the face cover (niqaab is the arabic word) for photo IDs. The press wrote a bunch of stories and then the Muslim group came out and said they didn't understand what the issue was because no one had asked to be granted such treatment. They had spoken to woment that cover their faces & they didn't expect to be allowed to stay covered for these kinds of things. & just an FYI, Muslim countries (Dubai & Egypt at least) also expect women to take photo IDs without the face covers, but they set up the pictures to be taken by women in order to respect their decision.
Hope that helps.
HH
Thanks Noha and Anonymous - I thought that big issue with Harper was about going to vote with faces covered? Having a photo ID with faces covered would be kind of pointless.
Yeah, XUP. I think you're right about the going to vote thing.
Take care
HH
xup, I think you're right. I'm pretty sure it was the vote thing... Anyway, over all, I'm not a fan of Harper for MANY reasons... and fyi, HH is the mother of my little angel and angela (aka, Dubai Sis)
The whole "voting with faces covered" controversy was sad, not even because of bigotry, but because it was pretty much entirely manufactured. Back in September of 2007, the head of Elections Canada (Marc Maynard) gave an interview in which he mentioned the established procedure for dealing with voters who can't show their faces. A whole bunch of people (including the Conservatives) declared that Maynard had made a "decision" that he had no authority to make on the matter, and proceeded to launch an investigation into how this had happened.
But no "decision" had been made by Elections Canada at all. Maynard was just quoting existing law (specifically, Bill C-31), which parliament could have changed at any time of its choosing, no "investigation" required.
Oh, and if anyone asks, the timing of this controversy had nothing to do with the fact that Elections Canada had just started investigating whether the Conservatives had broken the law in their previous elections' spending, an investigation that led to the RCMP raiding Conservative headquarters the following April. Complete coincidence for sure.
Pardon my wordiness and my sarcasm. On a cheerier note, I'm glad to hear you're not having trouble at the pool anymore, Noha.
wow! K, thanks for clearing that up... if anyone was going to know, it would have to me my ridiculously well-read brother in law... I actually didn't remember the details, just that, at the time, I felt like there was this huge deal being made of something really insignificant. So I got annoyed and ignored it, as I tend to do when something annoys me. And yes, the pool is great... Tomorrow, if the weather stays gorgeous, M and I just might go biking :)
thatz good news noha.
may be itz all about live and let live.
Coming frm a country where women cover their heads but bare their midriffs, the reaction to your dressing seems incorrigible.
May be people shud b able 2 live with too much and too little clothes.
Lost, which country is that?
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