Today is officially the start of Ramadan. Muslims worldwide do their total fast during daylight hours for the next month. The list of proscribed activities is all-encompassing: no eating, drinking, smoking, sex, nothing. I once read a letter in an English-language newspaper in Saudi Arabia where the writer worried that a drop of sweat trickling into his mouth caused him to break the daylight fast … was he going to hell for this transgression? Must have been one of those nut-job Wahabbis (not to be confused with wasabi).
Having worked with Saudi naval officers during my contractor days, I can tell you that they get more sullen, cranky and unproductive as the month progresses. Not being able to eat or rehydrate during daylight hours of the hottest month of the year is bound to make them especially irritable. Oh joy, meal time is probably going to get testy as the days go by.
This being the first day of Ramadan, I decided to play my “Ugly American” card. I got a muffin sandwich with ham (can’t call it an Egg McMuffin™, that’s trademarked) at breakfast, and piled on the bacon. Actually, I let one of the guys behind the serving line pile on the bacon. Thank you for the profusion of pork products, Amatullah. If they had sausage patties instead of links, I’d have added one of those to make the sandwich a Ramadan Trifecta. I’ve decided to sacrifice my low cholesterol level for a week or two just to be politically incorrect.
I especially feel the need to be politically incorrect after reading a bulletin from Regional Command South in Kandahar. Eating, drinking and smoking in public during daylight hours have been banned, for fear we might offend our local national hosts. God forbid we should offend someone in a war zone. Two in the chest and one in the head for good measure, but we’ll try not to offend your religious sensibilities as we send you to meet Allah and the 72 virgins.
No doubt about it, I’m one insensitive old cuss.
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