TOD 02.26.08

Over the weekend, as I was waiting for my wife in the car with sleeping children, I happened to see a Muslim woman leaving the store. I inferred she was Muslim because she was wearing a traditional-looking scarf which carefully covered her neck and head except for her face in the way I have seen many Muslim women do.

What intrigued me about her attire, however, was the fact that she was also wearing some sort of eye-catching waist jewelry, a cute top, and high heels which were mostly hidden underneath the hem of her extremely form-fitting jeans. Because of the rest of the outfit, the scarf had almost taken on its own air of allure rather than modesty, which I presume was its original purpose. I have no idea what her peers or parents think, but I thought her dress was as effective a demonstration that you cannot enforce principles through the application of specific rules as any I had seen.

The child’s body may be sitting on the chair, but if he’s still standing up on the inside, one may well wonder what good the rule has really accomplished.