katealaurel » Religion http://www.katealaurel.com/blog in and out of the ivory tower Tue, 03 Aug 2010 20:21:21 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.6 en hourly 1 Written on our hands http://www.katealaurel.com/blog/2009/12/28/written-on-our-hands/ http://www.katealaurel.com/blog/2009/12/28/written-on-our-hands/#comments Mon, 28 Dec 2009 19:45:55 +0000 katealaurel http://www.katealaurel.com/blog/?p=116 When I was in high school, I had a horrible habit of writing notes to myself on my hands– so much so that sometimes the entire back of my hand would be covered, up onto my fingers and curving down onto my palm. (I had not yet discovered planners, and I didn’t have the ubiquitous internet that allows me to organize my life these days.) I’ve been picking it up again lately simply because I haven’t been online much, and haven’t been carrying a paper planner; right now there’s a small, neat note to myself reminding me I have make-up classes with my writing course tomorrow afternoon.

After class today, a student came up to me and, in an apparent nonsequitur, asked if he could show me something. He said, “You know our god is Allah. Look.” He interlaced his fingers, and turned so that I could see the inside of his palms. His friend traced letters on his hands:

Allah, written in the lines on the palms of our hands. I couldn’t think of anything to say (save “thank you”) in response to so lovely a sharing of knowledge.

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