Hubby and the Racists

I was so terribly busy at work today trying to get everything finished before our long holiday weekend. The Jewish holiday of Purim comes out on Friday and Jerusalem celebrates it on Sunday - with everyone getting dressed up, kind of like Halloween, only instead of asking for candy, people give candy and special pastries called Hamantashen.

I called Hubby to ask him some short really important questions. He was like - I'm eating lunch now. I'm putting you on the phone with C.'s wife, just in from Canada yesterday.

I really didn't want to talk to C.'s wife, even though we had hosted C., the Pentecostal guy on Friday evening. I was busy busy and BUSY. What part of busy did he not understand.

I was extremely polite and telling her she should spend Easter Sunday in Jerusalem, because she didn't want to go there because of the crowds. I don't know what she's thinking. Jerusalem never gets that crowded. Crowded was in Barcelona or in New York City subways, but I guess any city with a population of over 2,500 is crowded for her. I even promised to find them a Pentecostal church service in Jerusalem for Sunday.

I get back on the phone with Hubby - who puts Abed on the phone with me.

"Kif halek....." and on he goes having a 10 minute conversation with me in Arabic that I barely understand. He thinks I'm making all this language progress, but I'm only learning the Arabic alphabet now. I finally get off the phone with Abed and am handed back to Hubby. I try to ask that very important quick question and he tells me he'll get back to me in a half hour, because he wants to finish his lunch.

Thinking silently - what a dick, I rush home before the festival starts. Hubby calls and tells me to put the hot water switch on for the shower. This means he's got a headache. He doesn't tell me this but I know. But a wave of compassion comes over me and I struggle to get the house tidied up in 20 minutes so he doesn't have a worse headache when he sees the mess. He's on the couch, having no clue that the place looked like a salvation army depot 20 minutes before. I feel he's thankful.

He tells me that today where he worked, some young Jewish guys were playing music loud. He likes a wide range of music but this was racist music - in English - by a well known guy in extremist right wing circles singing anti-Arab songs. The young guys were laughing and singing along with the music. Hubby goes across the street to them and tells them in no uncertain terms that if they don't shut that crap off, he'll tear the stereo wires out of the wall. Then he calmed down and explained the following to them.

"I'm a contractor working across the street, and I hire Palestinian workers. It's embarrassing for me to have them listen to this shit. It's offensive to me even more so. I used to be like you once, until I learned better, until I got to know the others. You must have respect for the others, because the world is changing and it has to change for the better."

To say the least, they were stunned. Heck, I was stunned just listening to this. They didn't expect anyone to complain about their taste in music and didn't think it was offensive and apologized to him for being offensive. I guess no one had ever challenged them beforehand.

I told Hubby - why is it when you come home, all I hear are belches and farts? And then you walk around the house scratching your balls and eating out of the cooking pots.

I never get to see him at his best. Nevertheless, I was damn proud of Hubby because it does take great big balls to confront racism.