I continued to communicate regularly with her as our paths were constantly crossing. One day we were both working in a computer lab in one of the residence halls in the housing complex. I was printing documents and she was working on a research paper. She was listening to music as she was working, and I recognized the song and that it sounded like an artist I knew. When the song ended, there was an outro to the music, it was KHS: Kurt Hugo Schneider, and I swiveled my chair around to ask her about it. This was an obscure artist, and I found someone from across the globe who listened to him. She shared that whenever she listened to that song, it made her think of her long distance relationship, and she would tear up a bit. She explained that when she listens to the originals, it was good, but when she listened to his covers, it was full of emotion. This brief conversation with her about music was amazing, and really made an open dialogue between the two of us.
On June 12, I worked a check-in for an athletic group. She was one of the staff members I was supervising. The entire staff was stressed, and there were heightened emotions as a gunman in Florida had just attacked a nightclub that morning, targeting a specific population. She had read about the event while I was beside her working this check-in, and was upset. This was violence that she faced in her home country, and it had reached America, where she had felt safe. She understood that America had a lot of shootings, but this was different. After the check-in, I was able to speak to her about her more about the situation. She shared that she had been working on a paper that explores why women and minorities in her country were being discriminated against, attacked, and persecuted because of their religion. Yet the religion was there for individuals’ wellbeing and to serve the population. The nightclub shooting was being tied to ISIS. She was an apostate and had fled her home country, in hopes of something better. Her family is Muslim, but she does not believe in Islam. She had friends who were part of the LGBT community who were persecuted and murdered because of their lifestyles. In her own country, there was a hate list of LGBT, writers and the individuals who stand up against the population that want to strike them down. And she was part of that population. She was a writer, was working on an advocacy piece, and was trying to make a better world.
Emotions are normal. Wanting more is normal. Doing these, or not doing these, is what makes you you.