Love Thy Neighbor: A Muslim Doctor's Struggle for Home in Rural America
Author:
Genres: Biographies & Memoirs, Religion & Spirituality, Politics & Social Sciences
Book Type: Hardcover
Author:
Genres: Biographies & Memoirs, Religion & Spirituality, Politics & Social Sciences
Book Type: Hardcover
First things first: I'd love to have a doctor who actually wants to interact with and treat me, considering that the last two appointments I've had at my PCP were with people who never actually even examined me. Virji stated that he left a "high-end medical center in a midsize city because it practiced 'turnstyle medicine': Move them in and out as fast as you can." I call this "assembly-line health care": same difference. To that end, this book was written by an honestly caring, compassionate and sensitive individual, who truly feels other people and wants to help them, but also wants to be accepted and embraced by them. In other words, this is the kind of doctor you want in your town, especially if your town is comprised of a population of about 1,600 and is in the middle of nowhere: rural Minnesota, to be exact, about three hours from a decent-sized city.
I've been reading a fair number of these firsthand-experience-type books, written from people who face unique challenges in our modern world, especially in the Trump era where the "other" is constantly attacked. I don't want to play politics, but I think that it's a fair statement to assert that hate crime and bigotry have kicked into overdrive, although I suppose that it did also with the election of the first black president. I read at one point that in the case of Obama, death threats toward the president had increased some 400 percent during his tenure (makes you proud, doesn't it? *sarcasm*), to the point that he was getting 30 threats a day. Prejudice in general just seems to have become more mainstream, which is disheartening. Despite my contentions that hate and discrimination directed at those we don't tend to identify with is far more a resource problem than a people problem ("they took our JOBS!", etc.), the fact is that such vitriol certainly affects individuals, in devastating ways. Making people aware of how this works is a definite strength of this book.
Virji sets the stage by talking about a presentation he gave in his own community, where people who had known him for years, whom he had treated, dined with, spent time with, and interacted with on a daily basis, turned on a dime and began treating him with fear, suspicion and even loathing in the aftermath of Trump's election. What would have been unthinkable a year before, such as one of his son's schoolmates, with whom he had been at least on friendly terms, calling his mother a "part-time suicide bomber," or the swastikas that mysteriously appeared on the sidewalk outside his home, became increasingly commonplace.
The most shocking aspect was the speed with which his lived reality, and that of his family, including his three children, turned on a dime. It's appalling that this man, whom most people knew intimately, had to basically stand in front of his entire community to plead with people to do as their Lord and Savior had commanded: love one another. This doctor, who had made inestimable sacrifices to come to this backwater town, had to stand before his community and defend his religion, and in some respects, his worthiness to still live among them. Heartbreaking. The family, shocked and dismayed after Trump's election, initially decide to leave, to move to Dubai, where a relative lived and where they could have a much more comfortable life. After much soul-searching (and an air of defiance), they decided to stay, not the least because, in Virji's words, he didn't want to let the bigots run them out of town. If they decided to move, he wanted it to be on their terms, not because they were "running away"from the minority who didn't want them there.
Overall, I hope that those who read the book will be encouraged to look at others with more empathy, and indeed, heed the call to love our neighbors, even when it's difficult (there should have been NO difficulty, in this case; this doctor was a prominent pillar of the community who had initiated innumerable lifesaving measures to improve the quality of life for people near and far. There are a couple of powerful passages, which I've included below, which speak to the book's central theme: building bridges instead of burning them.
"The ink of a scholar is holier than the blood of a martyr. The sleep of a wise person is better than the ignorant person up all night praying." i.e., keep your priorities straight.[
Re: jihad: "I come not to bring peace, but to bring the sword." -Jesus of Nazareth, Matthew 10:34. (for some much-needed perspective)
I've been reading a fair number of these firsthand-experience-type books, written from people who face unique challenges in our modern world, especially in the Trump era where the "other" is constantly attacked. I don't want to play politics, but I think that it's a fair statement to assert that hate crime and bigotry have kicked into overdrive, although I suppose that it did also with the election of the first black president. I read at one point that in the case of Obama, death threats toward the president had increased some 400 percent during his tenure (makes you proud, doesn't it? *sarcasm*), to the point that he was getting 30 threats a day. Prejudice in general just seems to have become more mainstream, which is disheartening. Despite my contentions that hate and discrimination directed at those we don't tend to identify with is far more a resource problem than a people problem ("they took our JOBS!", etc.), the fact is that such vitriol certainly affects individuals, in devastating ways. Making people aware of how this works is a definite strength of this book.
Virji sets the stage by talking about a presentation he gave in his own community, where people who had known him for years, whom he had treated, dined with, spent time with, and interacted with on a daily basis, turned on a dime and began treating him with fear, suspicion and even loathing in the aftermath of Trump's election. What would have been unthinkable a year before, such as one of his son's schoolmates, with whom he had been at least on friendly terms, calling his mother a "part-time suicide bomber," or the swastikas that mysteriously appeared on the sidewalk outside his home, became increasingly commonplace.
The most shocking aspect was the speed with which his lived reality, and that of his family, including his three children, turned on a dime. It's appalling that this man, whom most people knew intimately, had to basically stand in front of his entire community to plead with people to do as their Lord and Savior had commanded: love one another. This doctor, who had made inestimable sacrifices to come to this backwater town, had to stand before his community and defend his religion, and in some respects, his worthiness to still live among them. Heartbreaking. The family, shocked and dismayed after Trump's election, initially decide to leave, to move to Dubai, where a relative lived and where they could have a much more comfortable life. After much soul-searching (and an air of defiance), they decided to stay, not the least because, in Virji's words, he didn't want to let the bigots run them out of town. If they decided to move, he wanted it to be on their terms, not because they were "running away"from the minority who didn't want them there.
Overall, I hope that those who read the book will be encouraged to look at others with more empathy, and indeed, heed the call to love our neighbors, even when it's difficult (there should have been NO difficulty, in this case; this doctor was a prominent pillar of the community who had initiated innumerable lifesaving measures to improve the quality of life for people near and far. There are a couple of powerful passages, which I've included below, which speak to the book's central theme: building bridges instead of burning them.
"The ink of a scholar is holier than the blood of a martyr. The sleep of a wise person is better than the ignorant person up all night praying." i.e., keep your priorities straight.[
Re: jihad: "I come not to bring peace, but to bring the sword." -Jesus of Nazareth, Matthew 10:34. (for some much-needed perspective)
