Semantics of the Unfamiliar

Thank you for the moving and chilling story about Fozia Mussa [“Country Girl,” April]. I am glad she, unlike so many others, is getting the opportunity to explore her potential and is doing so much with it. There certainly is more than enough racism and xenophobia in the world. However, many if not most of us stare, peer, and yes, even “gawk” at things that are unusual that we are trying to understand. To describe looks as “sneers” and impute racism and xenophobia to scrutiny or long glances seems unfair and excessive; political correctness runs amok. Seeing is believing but believing is seeing as well. It is our attitudes that primarily divide us. I am glad Mussa “paid little attention to the apparent xenophobia,” perhaps she didn’t see it, and chose hope over fear in accepting help and the hand of friendship from a rival clan. Hopefully revealing hers will not “lead to trouble” with her clients.