Journal Entry

The short story about two friends of different faiths and their personal battles to remain friends after conflicts stir up in regards to their faiths is very cute but also deep and packed with insight. I immediately fell in love with the young girls and their naive nature, especially when they fought over things that were most important to them as children. In this case, it was whether or not Selam, the Muslim girl, talked to Hadiya, who was also Muslim, but was disliked by the narrator, who is Selam's best friend. Overall, the story focused on the conflicts of the best friends, and how the the turn of events in the adult society indirectly affected their friendship and lives. Theoretically speaking, adults, because of their advanced education, should have been able to make better decisions. However, in this case, as I compare the conflicts and their effects, it really forced me to ask myself if adults were truly better than children in treating others and judging right and wrong.

The really big theme in this story was the choices of adults verses the choices of children and the question of whether or not education and influence affects people in a positive way.

Instincts and naivety, along with indifference (towards religion and other factors that separate people) were shown throughout the story by the two young girls. Neither understood why they were not allowed to play together, nor did they understand the reason for destruction. The differences in religion, which they did not understand in the first place, made them enemies, but their naivety and lack of understanding also allowed them to carry forth with their friendship. This friendship proved to be more beneficial and happy than the war between the Muslims and Christians, which caused damage, destruction and unhappiness. It allowed the reader to ponder whether or not the adults, who were intelligent and educated were truly more logical and wise than the uneducated kids that were not taught to differentiate and judge by anything other than personality.

Some really cute and insightful quotes I found were:
"I told you not to talk to Hadiya!" you said, dropping your fork. "She's not our friend."
~Though the main character had conflicts with Hadiya, it was because she didn't like her for personal reasons, not because of her religion (which was Muslim when the main character was Christian). Unlike the educated adults in her community, she only disliked one person because of personality, not a large group of people that they did not know because they claimed to be of a different religion.

"Not 'us' as in "us," Daddy said.
"It's not personal," Mommy said. "You know they're Muslims?"

This shows how the leaders' decisions were impersonal and judgmental, and how it affected personal relationships. This was all caused by decisions made by a small group of people that had no direct or personal relationships with the majority of their "enemies".

"You smiled because you had discovered a new language."

This was part of a very nice conclusion to the story because it showed that naive, loving children uninfluenced by the biases and judgement of adults were able, through love, to break the barriers and maintain their friendship in times or hardship and hatred.

I hope the rest of you enjoyed the story.