“I was seeing in these awkward composites my own liminal self. The two sides of me that were slammed together against their will, that refused to mix. I was a failed hybrid, made up of unalloyed selves. My Russian mother who regretted marrying my Sudanese father. My African father who came to hate his white wife. My atheist mother who blotted out my Muslim heritage. My Arab father who gave me up to Europe without a fight. I was the freak. I had been told so and I had been taught so and I had chewed on this verdict to the extent that, no matter what, I could never purge myself of it entirely.” ToleranceHeritageMulticulturalFamiliesSelf HatredCultural ConditioningMixed RacesMixed Marriage Book:The Kindness of Enemies Source: The Kindness of Enemies
“It was an effort formulating this summary, explaining myself. I preferred the distant past, centuries that were over and done with, ghosts that posed no direct threat. History could be milked for this cause or that. We observed it always with hindsight, projecting onto it our modern convictions and anxieties.” HistoryToleranceEscapismFamiliesAnxietiesConviction And AttitudeCross Cultural UnderstandingMixed Races Book:The Kindness of Enemies Source: The Kindness of Enemies
“As if reading his mind, Jamal-al-Din said, 'To get what you love, you must first be patient with what you hate.” LoveHateCompassionKindnessEmpathyForgivenessTolerance Book:The Kindness of Enemies Source: The Kindness of Enemies
