Harvest Restaurant and the Muslim portrait.

What a surprise it was to walk into this restaurant in down town Louisville,  Kentucky. As you walk in, you will not miss the portrait of a Muslim man and his wife in the Hijab right at the entrance wall, it is one of the three pictures on the first wall, and then all the walls are decorated with pictures of people.

It reminded me of a restaurant in Houston. “John Nonmacher, owner of Nonmacher's Bar-B-Que on South Mason, said he has no plans to take down the controversial poster, which depicts an Iranian man hanging from a rope surrounded by cowboys, one of whom is wearing a T-shirt that reads "Iranians Suck."

Harvest is a very popular restaurant in Louisville for its organic food, every item there is home grown.  From vegetables to milk, coffee and meat is all grown by the local farmers. 

The Portraits on the walls are that of the farmers who grow and supply organic food.  One of the farmers is a Muslim couple, and thus their picture.

As an American who dreams of a cohesive America, it gave me tremendous amount of joy, not because there was a picture of a Muslim couple, but because it is uplifting to know that when a few are raking bigotry, there are many who bring out the best of humanity through inclusion.   It was perhaps an ordinary, normal routine thing for the owner, but made a point about normal human beings living a normal life.

We are all in this together. This is how each one of us, Muslims, Mexicans, GLBT, Jews, Hindus, Sikhs and others can be a normal part of the American story.  The more we present these pictures, the less conflict there will be giving everyone peace of mind to continue adding prosperity.

Are we a part of the American story?  Link
Dr. Mike Ghouse is a community consultant, social scientist, thinker, writer, news maker, Interfaith Wedding officiant, and a speaker on Pluralism, Interfaith, Islam, politics, terrorism, human rights, India, Israel-Palestine, motivation, and foreign policy. He is committed to building cohesive societies and offers pluralistic solutions on issues of the day. Visit him (63 links) at www.MikeGhouse.net and www.TheGhousediary.com for his exclusive writings.