Naked People, Terrorists, and Me

As a new notch in the bedpost of interesting stuff I've seen on the streets of Philly, lets add NAKED PEOPLE. I mean bare-naked. Ok, fine, they had aprons on so not full frontal, but definitely full rear. And of course if you looked hard enough at the right moment (when the wind was blowing or they were bending over) you could see a bit more. Not that I tried. The street was full of people taking pictures and pointing, and one guy near me leaned to his friend and said, "I can see it now - major pile-up in Center City caused by naked people on street". Amen. 

This was Wednesday, outside of the environmentally-friendly soap/cosmetics store Lush. They were promoting their products that don't require packing, which is good for the environment because it cuts down on waste and shipping costs. I've never been inside the store, but it smells nice... and I'm interested to see a "shampoo bar"... so maybe next time I'll venture in. And that has nothing to do with the fact that I'm hoping more naked people are inside. 

Flash forward to my subway ride to the Hospital at UPenn (not sick, just going for a yearly). There's this guy sitting near me, and he's decked out in what looks like Muslim garb - a long tunic (over baggy jeans and Timbs, mind you) and a cloth on his head. He's white, but he has a really long beard. Kind of an anomaly, and I wouldn't have thought much of it except that he was talking with a young boy who was sitting across from him and shaking this small blue vial. I thought at first it was a lighter, and maybe he was teaching the kid to shake the lighter fluid (do people even do that?). But I looked closer and it wasn't a lighter, just a small tube-like object with liquid in it. 

Here's the kicker: I got scared thinking this guy had explosives and was training this little kid to use them. I thought they were going to blow up the subway train. I know this is totally irrational and 99.9% most likely not true, but that's what crept into my mind. 

And I wonder what makes us... well... me, because I can't speak for others... think things like that about people we don't even know? Does my society tell me to fear people dressed like Muslims? Does my religious background? The media? I think it's a combination of all of those things. We hear about people flying planes into buildings... who are they? Muslims. We see images of Osama Bin Laden and associate him with danger and violence, and then we see a man who is wearing similar clothing and think the same thing. It's hard to separate the images from the emotions. 

But I think naked people on the street is something we can all agree puts a smile on our faces, right?