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You may have heard the story. A guy and a girl, both in their twenties meet in a convenience store. He's buying a pack of cigarettes. They walk out of the store together and the flirting gets a little hotter. Single? Uh huh. Within fifteen minutes they find a deserted rooftop and have sex. Time to get back to work. He enters her name and number in his cell phone. Fast forward two months. He sees a name and number in his cell phone he no longer recognizes. He dials it. It's the convenience store girl and yes, she would like to see him again.

But the girl had other motives for making the faux date. Revenge. Just after their open-air tryst, she finds out the guy lied. He wasn't single. She also wrongly assumed he was Jewish, like her. So she went to the police and filed rape charges. It wasn't until he called her again that the cops were able to find him and press charges. Case goes to trial. It's proven the sex was consensual, the guy lied about his marital status, and he was deceptive in not telling her of his race and religion. Conviction: Rape by Deception. This is in Jerusalem, where you have certain disadvantages if you're a Palestinian.

I was outraged when I read this story: injustice, racism, stupidity! What a macho jerk for lying to get laid, shame on that cruel bitch for blaming a man for her loose morals. What surprised me most was a statement from Yuval Yonay, a sociology professor at Haifa University in Israel. He's taught for 16 years on a campus where 20-25% of the students are Arab. In all those years, he has never heard of a mixed relationship. It never occurred to me that there wouldn't be Romeo and Juliets, Hatfield and McCoys,  in the Middle East.

 

For All the Single Ladies

I grew up believing that
every princess finds her prince.
It's inevitable.

My kingdom, on the other hand,
is full of frogs.
No matter how often I kiss them,
they remain stubbornly amphibious.

Where is the prince You made for me?
Help me find him.
Fish him out of this sea of possibilities.
My life remains Your tale to tell.

I remain ever-hopeful,
ever-trusting in Your narration.
Please grant me my happily ever after,
after all.

-Lori Strawn

 

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