Today has been a good day, from starting new projects at work to widen my experience and add some different aspects to the usual mundane tasks we must all perform daily as part of our work; to having a lovely text conversation with my boyfriend. We don't get to see each other often, so texts and calls are what keep us alive. Sometimes one written word, can mean 1000 red roses. Words truly express how one feels, which really can't be said through a box of Thorntons continental....not that I'd turn them down!
As I switched on my TV this morning to watch BBC breakfast as usual whilst I'm getting ready, one of their topics, for once, was interesting and up to date. Rather than discussing the ever growing issue of child obesity or what issues there are within the NHS, they were discussing the niqab and burqa, whether they should be banned within our multi cultural society. I have two schools of thought here:
I wouldn't feel comfortable holding a conversation with someone's whose face is covered up, but that is probably the way I have been brought up. It's not something I've ever really encountered. In one sense, you can liken it to wearing a balaclava.
However, you could argue that Catholic nuns wear the equivalent of a niqab (please correct me if I am wrong in any of my terminology).
It is a contentious issue that will always split opinion. I do feel that the gentleman they interviewed on BBC Breakfast this morning had a weak argument, and the Muslim lady certainly fought her corner well. It is not just the British etiquette of passing someone in the street and saying hello. Yes, it's always nice when you go for a walk, and the person walking their dog the other way gives a smile and a cheery good morning, but really this happens so infrequently. If I smiled and stopped to say hello to every person I passed in the city centre, I wouldn't get anything done.
Being faced with a burqa can be seen as intimidating almost, but is this because Islam has such bad press filled with extremism and death?
One of my closest friends at school was (and still is although we have lost touch) a Muslim and we got on famously. It is not about what one wears, more about the person on the inside. The lady in a burqa still has feelings, she still has family and friends who love her, she is no different from me or you.
I will say though, our local community centre, which is actually a mosque, has a separate door for ladies. This is something I will not embrace. I do not think I am so inferior to a man that I should use the side door whilst he goes in the front. That, however, is another issue.
It isn't something Britain would have faced 20 or so years ago, but it is part of our culture now whether we like it or not. Respect goes both ways.
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