#Notinmyname
- Dr. Hoda Z. M. Amer
- Mar 5
- 2 min read
Today, I have the skies on my mind. The first plane I rode I was 2 months old. Since then I've been on over 200. Seriously, I've flown 2 - 4- 6 x a year/ for my lifetime. I nicknamed myself Mariposa, because I feel more at home in the skies than I do on the ground. It's a second home.
I'm an expert traveler Alhamdllilh.
I know just what to expect, how disgusted I will be by the bathrooms, and what I will want to eat when the airport stores are closed bc it's 2 am in whichever country I've landed in. I know that I will probably leave my socks in one country (or worse, one of a pair!), my favorite scarf in another, my favorite books in one country or another. I am positive that my kids' favorite stuffy lamb is somewhere still stuck between chairs at JFK.
I have seen how the airplanes and airports have changed over the years (for example ppl can't smoke on planes anymore ha ha). I've flown on the Concorde, PanAm, TWA- long gone now.
When I was a child, traveling was definitely more fun. First bc it wasn't as crowded, so my sisters and I got special attention and got to see the pilot controls.
2ndly there were no weight limits on luggage to speak of. 3rdly there wasn't all this security. 4thly did I mention how it wasn't crowded?
And I guess as kids, the airport was our playground.
I have grown up on planes. I've cried after leaving my family and sister Allah yirhamha just buried, I've cried over myself, a broken women after falling apart, and smiled as the same woman stood up again stronger than before, traveling a short while after. I've worried over a newer scarier world to travel after 9/11. I've tried not to breathe as COVID surrounded us. I've meditated, prayed, and discovered the world in the safety of my seat. I've planned and practiced for interviews and jobs on the plane. I've watched dumb movies. Yup, as alone as I could be, with a whole bunch of other travelers.
I love the travel prayer.
"O Allah, You are The Companion on the journey and The Successor over the family, O Allah, I take refuge with You from the difficulties of travel, from having a change of hearts and being in a bad predicament, and I take refuge in You from an ill fated outcome with wealth and family."
When I hear it I get a sense of calm, I leave the trip up to God, and I remember how this is all God's world. With God in my heart, it is also MY world. The sky, the earth, we each of us are connected. We are citizens of the sky and earth. I know this and believe this with all my heart. Borders, wars, seem so stupid to me. More connects us, than divides us, if we care to notice.
Love, music, sports, knowledge, families, jobs, sickness, treatment- all cross borders. This is what should matter, right?
All I can say, as I see the skies violated by missiles and bombs, is that no...
All this violence is #NotInMyName
None of it is.
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