My wife and I were flying back from a brief family trip to Chicago where we celebrated the end of Ramadan feast with our son. The flight was cruising steadily at 25000 feet; the calm skies and the layers of clouds below created a serene environment.
The hostess stopped as she passed by us; she seemed to have some spare moments. She looked meaningfully at my wife’s ‘hijab’ (headscarf) and her pretty eastern dress as if her eyes wanted to say something. I took the initiative and said, “You know, we just celebrated our end of Ramadan feast!” Her eyes brightened and she smiled warmly as she spoke, “Wow, it must be a very special celebration for you. I have heard before about Ramadan from a friend of mine.”
What followed was an amazing conversation that can hardly be described in words. What came from both sides was nothing but goodness, kindness, understanding and goodwill. I have always been convinced that when you speak with a pure heart, the other person listens with his or her heart. When you speak with sincerity, it is as if you can almost hear the very heartbeat of the other person. Indeed, there is much mercy, love and compassion out there. To experience it, one simply needs to kindle that light in another with a kind word, a smile, or a sincere compliment.
What followed was an amazing conversation that can hardly be described in words. What came from both sides was nothing but goodness, kindness, understanding and goodwill. I have always been convinced that when you speak with a pure heart, the other person listens with his or her heart. When you speak with sincerity, it is as if you can almost hear the very heartbeat of the other person. Indeed, there is much mercy, love and compassion out there. To experience it, one simply needs to kindle that light in another with a kind word, a smile, or a sincere compliment.
Our hostess was lost in deep thought. She put her hands in her pockets and brought out two sachets that were face towels and said so lovingly, “This is all that I can give you both!” To us, these sachets were more precious than gems and emeralds. When we left the plane soon afterward, the hostess tenderly touched my wife’s face as if she did not want to part. We knew we would forever cherish these memories of kind words exchanged with true sincerity and a desire for greater understanding and amity. Flying above the clouds at 25,000 feet, the world certainly looked and also felt a lot smaller.
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