USA. A Mexican restaurant. We had not yet ordered anything, and the food was already arriving.
Chips. Salsa. Unrequested. Free.
I stopped the waiter. "We have not earned these."
"They just come with the table, man."
They come with the TABLE. In my land, hospitality is a debt. Every gift creates an obligation, weighed carefully, returned in the proper season with interest of feeling. Here, the gift arrives before you have even proven you can pay for dinner.
This is not an appetizer. This is a declaration: we trust you. Eat.
I ate with the gravity the moment deserved. And then — I must report this calmly — the basket emptied, and a new one appeared.
"Did we…?"
"Refill," the waiter said. "It's bottomless."
Bottomless. They have wells of salsa. The supply lines of this nation are beyond anything my ancestors imagined.
My friend warned me. "Don't fill up on chips, dude."
Too late. I had accepted three baskets. Honor demanded each one be finished — an unfinished gift is an insult. By the time my actual food arrived, I was a ruined man.
I was not hungry. I was not comfortable. I had been defeated by a courtesy.
Generosity that arrives before the request cannot be repaid. It can only be survived.
I know the rule now. I have made my peace with the basket. One basket. Two at the most.
Who am I deceiving. There is no number of baskets I would refuse. The trust of a nation is in that salsa, and I intend to honor all of it.
To Mansour Kaziha, Nadir Awad, Amin Abdullah, May Allah grant you the highest ranks of Jannah. Thank you for protecting the children.
I’m sorry the world is filled with so much hate.
En l’honneur de la #lesbianvisibilityweek
À toutes les lesbiennes qui ont pris soin des hommes gays au début de l’épidémie de VIH-SIDA dans les années 80, alors que l’État, les médecins, familles les laissaient crever
Ce n’est pas pour rien que le L est la première lettre de LGBT
Let’s celebrate International Women’s Day in solidarity with Iranian and Afghan women who are oppressed by religious dictatorships but still continue to fight everyday.
This video is what feminism looks like to me