Back to previous pageJesse M. Heines
This article was published on page A1 of The Lowell
Sun on October 21, 2001.
Click here for the graphic version as it
appeared in the newspaper.
Like most professors, I have had my share of interaction with international students. Most of it has been absolutely marvelous, enriching my life as much as it has hopefully enriched theirs. One incident is particularly relevant in the light of the current rhetoric about Muslims and Jews.
As a professor of computer science, students often come to my office for one-on-one help when they are doing their assignments and come up against bugs or difficult algorithms they can’t figure out for themselves. Nadeem Chaudry, from Pakistan, had a particularly tricky bug that we worked on together for about half an hour to no avail. At that point I said, “Nadeem, this is a two-cookie problem!”
Of course Nadeem had no idea what I was talking about, but I opened the drawer containing my chocolate chip cookie stash, took one for myself, and offered him one. “Thank you,” he said, “but my religion probably doesn’t allow me to eat those.”
“What religion is that?” I asked.
“Muslim,” he answered, but at the same time he looked at the cookie bag more closely. “Wait,” he said, “these are kosher. See? They have a U in a circle, which means that they are OK for Jews to eat. Our dietary laws are very similar, so I think it’s probably OK for me to have one after all.”
“That’s fascinating,” I said. “I’m Jewish, but I never knew about that similarity in our religions.”
Nadeem pushed back hard from the desk at which we were working.
“What?!” he gasped. “You’re a Jew?!?”
“Yes,” I replied calmly.
“But then why are you helping me?”
Now it was my turn to be surprised. “Why am I helping you?” I repeated incredulously. “Because I’m the professor and you’re the student.”
The poor man was speechless. I can’t even remember if we solved his programming problem or not, but I do remember him leaving my office a short time later, shaking his head as he wrestled with the realization that a Jew had been willing to help him.
A few years later I had another Pakistani student in my class, Omar Hoda. We became friendly because he shot golf in the 80s and offered to give me a few pointers. He had told me that he was a friend of Nadeem’s, but somehow the incident described above never came up in our conversations.
By this time, Nadeem had graduated. Then one day out of the blue I got an invitation to his wedding. I didn’t know what to wear or how to behave at a Muslim wedding, so I asked Omar for advice. I also told Omar that while I was of course delighted to be invited to the wedding, I was also amazed that Nadeem would include me in such an important event in his life. “Why?” Omar questioned. “You changed his life.”
He then proceeded to tell me the profound effect the little episode in my office with the kosher chocolate chip cookies had had on his friend, changing not only his attitude toward Jews, of course, but also his attitude toward all people different from himself. It seems that by simply helping him tackle a computer problem and treating him with respect, I had unknowingly helped him see beyond the prejudices of his upbringing and inspired him to respect all his fellow human beings.
Author’s Note: I had lost contact with Nadeem Chaudry, but his uncle passed him a copy of this article. On November 18, 2001, I received a fascinating and thought-provoking response from Nadeem via e-mail. Please check it out here.