The Sweetness of Forgetting

by Kristin Harmel

Her father had often said negative things about the Muslims, but Rose knew now that he’d been just as wrong about religion as he had been about the intentions of the Nazis. The Haddams had put their own lives at risk to save hers. They were some of the best people she had ever known.

“Rose?” he asked after a long while. “Do you think God speaks Arabic or Hebrew? Can he hear your prayers or mine?” Rose considered this for a moment and realized that she did not know the answer; she had begun to doubt recently that God

could hear her at all, no matter what language she spoke. “I do not know,” she said finally. “What do you think, Nabi?” The boy thought about this for a long time before replying. “I think God must speak all the languages.” His tone was confident. “I think he can hear all of us.”

“We are Muslims, Annie, but we believe you are our sister, since you are Christian and come from a Jewish background. I married a Jewish man because I love him. Love can transcend religion. Did you know that? In the world today, there is too much division, but God made us all, did he not?”