The most amazing thing happened to my brother today, May 9, as he was about to leave the USA via Bradley International Airport. The lady sitting behind the check-in desk inspected his Palestinian passport and asked him how many bags he had. "Three", he replied. With his passport in her hand, she asked, "before I charge you the over weight fees, what are you doing on May 15th?" Perplexed and cautious, he said "nothing." She asked again, "What's happening on May 15th?" to which he replied: "Third Intifada?" "Are you going out or staying in your house?" she asked him. More confused than ever, he asked her "what do you want me to do?" She said: "GO OUT!" So he said, "I am going out actually."
"Then you won't have to pay any overweight charges."
The guy printing the bag labels intervened and said: "We'll be looking for you. If you're not there, we'll make you pay!"
With a cautious laugh, as he was waiting for his passport, the young lady walked out of her desk space and came to him. She took out her iPhone and showed him her facebook newsfeed, which was full of news from the Middle East. "I'm so happy for what's happening in the Middle East. Hopefully, Palestine will be free soon." She then checked his name on the passport and added him on Facebook.
Overwhelming thoughts and emotions, but I can only think, "the times they are a-changing."
what a beautiful story! just goes to show you that even though the U.S. may have the worst position on our issue, not everyone there agrees
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