Posted 10:44 PM by steve

Thanks to Michelle Malkin for pointing out this ridiculous op-ed that ran in the NYT...

"I consider my appearance quite unremarkable. I'm 5 feet 8 inches, 150 pounds, fresh-faced and comfortably trendy - hardly, in my view, a look that should draw stares. Still, the Muslim headscarf, or hijab, that I wear makes me feel as if I am under a microscope.

I try to go to the gym just about every morning. Because I work out with my scarf on, people stare - just as they do on the streets of Cambridge.

The other day, though, I felt more self-conscious than usual. Every television in the gym highlighted some aspect of America's conflict with the Muslim world: the war in Iraq, allegations that American soldiers had desecrated the Koran, prisoner abuse at Guantánamo Bay, President Bush urging support of the Patriot Act. The stares just intensified my alienation as an Arab Muslim in what is supposed to be my country. I was not sure if the blood rushing to my head was caused by the elliptical trainer or by the news coverage.

Frustrated and angry, I moved to another part of the gym. I got on a treadmill and started running as hard as I could. As sweat dripped down my face, I reached for my towel, accidentally dropping my keys in the process. It was a small thing, I know, but as they slid down the rolling belt and fell to the carpet, my faith in the United States seemed to fall with them. I did not care to pick them up. I wanted to keep running.

Suddenly a man, out of breath, but still smiling and friendly, tapped me on my shoulder and said, "Ma'am, here are your keys." It was Al Gore, former vice president of the United States. Mr. Gore had gotten off his machine behind me, picked up my keys, handed them to me and then resumed his workout.

It was nothing more than a kind gesture, but at that moment Mr. Gore's act represented all that I yearned for - acceptance and acknowledgment.

There in front of me, he stood for a part of America that has not made itself well known to 10 million Arab and Muslim-Americans, many of whom are becoming increasingly withdrawn and reclusive because of the everyday hostility they feel.

It is up to us as Americans to change how the rest of the world views us by changing how we view some of our own citizens. Mr. Gore's act reminded me that rather than running away on my treadmill, I needed to keep my feet on the soil in this country. I left the gym with a renewed sense of spirit, reassured that I belong to America and that America belongs to me.

There are a few lines that make me laugh...

When I exercise heavily, blood doesn't go rushing to my head (unless I'm hanging upside down, which I don't). If anything, one tends to get lightheaded. Nor am I paying much attention to TV. I tend to be paying attention to what I am doing.

On the rare occasions when I am "running as hard as I could" my arms aren't reaching for a towel. My arms are pumping as fast as my legs are going (it helps if one's legs and arms move in unison while running).

I've had stuff drop while on the treadmill, and I've seen other people drop things while they were on a treadmill. Unlike Mr. Smiley and Friendly, none of us would ever touch someone who was running as hard as they could... what a great way to knock them off balance, frighten them, break their concentration, interupt their workout. What I do is to pick up whatever object went flying off the treadmill belt and, as unobtrusively as possible, place it next to them.

Even if Mr. Gore was as gym-clueless as described, she seems to be mixed up about what his gesture represented: on one hand she says it was nothing more than a kind gesture, but a few words later Gore's picking up her towel has magically become both a symbol of acceptance and a reminder for her to keep her feet on the ground.... which is it, nothing or something?

And whose fault is it that 'nice America' is not well known to 10 million Arab and Muslim Americans? Well, if the other 9,999,999 are something like her, I'd say it was their own darn fault for not getting out more often.

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