A picture is worth 71 thousand words, and 2017 America is so starved for acts of kindness in a dark, menacing and hate-filled world, it grabs and embraces the most elementary gestures of non-aggression. A case in point: Jackie Summers, a resident of Brooklyn, USA, posted on his Facebook page last Sunday that he had given up his seat on a bus so a Hasidic couple could sit together. They, in turn, “scooted over at the request of a Muslim mother” so she could sit and nurse her baby.
“This is my America: people letting people be people,” Summers wrote, elevating an act of elementary courtesy to a national slogan. Well, it appears that he was right, judging by the myriad likes and 55 thousand shares his post received.
Lisa Smith Zwart commented: “THIS is what makes America great and these days I’ve been struggling to find ways to feel good about America. We, the people… Thank you for restoring a little of my faith in humanity today,”
There were many more like that, but, of course, there was also Josh Mazza, who pointed out without the benefit of anything but prejudice that “neither of those women are allowed to be educated or show their hair.” Those two values are obviously not of equal weight, reflecting the commenter’s ignorance (Muslim and Haredi women in the West benefit from public and private education). And Mazza was attacked tout suite by women who called him on his presumptuous and elitist contribution.
Laura Kickpants Slack later commented: “Jackie’s photo and accompanying story made my day. Returning to this post in my feed and seeing folks work stuff out in the subsequent comments – in a civil and thoughtful fashion, mind you – gives me hope. *raises glass*”
OK, so the Muslim woman can’t *raise glass* in the manner intended, nor can the Haredi woman, come to think of it, unless the wine in the glass is mevushal.