I consider myself to be a fairly sane, rational person.....for those of you who know me well just move on ;) so I'm having a hard time lately with all the social media coverage of banning the burqa/burka (depending who writes it it's correct either way).

  One person I know said it scares her. She doesn't know what the woman underneath is thinking. The ever popular "she has no choice but wear it". And my personal favorite.... "what is she hiding under there?".

  I listened to her and my mind was racing. How could an extremely well educated person, who is well traveled and very logical about her circumstances, be so against something that doesn't effect her at all? She has no Muslim or Islamic friends. No neighbors of that particular cultural background. Why the anger? Why the hate?  So I sat down and thought through her reasons and here was what i thought.

  Lots of things scare me. People who kill children scare me. People driving 80km in a school zone scare me. Education costs scare me. Labor scared me. The price of good vodka scares me. Clothes...not so much.

  When I want to figure out what someone is thinking I look at their eyes. The window to our souls as someone said. Not their cheeks or chin or ears. They tell me nothing.  If we are really concerned about what someone is thinking perhaps we should ban sunglasses.

  As for the third reason well some women choose to wear it and unfortunately some are forced. Welcome to a different culture. But like every culture it changes slowly and I'm sure one day choice will be the rule. Remember Christian women had to cover their heads in church not that many years ago. Give it time. Everything changes.

  But this morning as I was racing out the door to get my son to school, I realized what HAS to be the reason for the social media hate storm! My hair was in need of a wash and sticking out in a hundred different directions, I have two zits starting beside my lip and drool down my chin because of course we over slept and I didn't have time to wash my face. If I was a burqa wearing girl well......I would have walked out the door looking well put together and serene. Not the screaming maniac in a pj top with a bad baseball cap on that I was. Not to mention my morning coffee breath. I now understand what these women are hiding!

  I know this is trivializing an issue that many, many people find important. To me it's a non issue. Except when I'm running late and looking not-at-my-best....then it's jealousy pure and simple. :)

Ang