I was watching the news one day with my mother. I don’t like to watch the news because it’s so depressing ,but on this particular day, my mom had the remote. When the the reporter came on the screen, my mother asked me if I remembered her. My response was “Why, did I date her?” My mother then explained to me how this reporter helped my mother start a group called “Honest Conversations” when I was in high school. The students who wanted to take part in this group would stay after school once a week. There were ten students of different nationalities per table, and we would have discussions in an attempt to break down  barriers and misconceptions among different cultures and races. The next story that the reporter introduced was about then-candidate Donald Trump claiming that  if he were president during 9-11, he wouldn’t have let any Muslims back into our country. I was active duty Marine Corps, deployed to Germany when 9-11 happened. Would that mean  I couldn’t come home? I took this as a sign that to make the phone call and give an interview. I pleaded with my mother for two and a half hours to allow me to Google the phone number to the news station, talk to the reporter, inform her of my daily goal to help at least one new person a day, and get an interview to help Muslim kids feel that they’re not alone. She finally agreed so I made the phone call, was transferred a few times until I was talking to the reporter, I introduced myself as the son of the honest conversation woman, she then asked “how’s Mona doing?”  She remembered my moms first name 20 years later, we talked for a minute and the camera crew was at my door the next morning. For weeks following that interview,  I was frequently stopped and thanked by strangers every time I was running errands. This news segment  also gave some of my passengers the comfort to ask me whatever questions they had about Islam, and several expressed that their conversations with me were the first time they really had a meaningful conversation with someone of my faith. Many passengers confessed they believed some of the common misconceptions about Islam. Had I listened to the opinion of others then I would have never accomplished most of what I have so far. This gave birth to the mantra “Tell me what I can’t do and I’ll show you what I can, by the grace of God!”

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                Those two minutes on the news had Muslim parents stopping me and thanking me for speaking out. They told me about how watching my interview had their children feeling better about being Muslim. That’s another reason I wrote this book. If two minutes on the news helped that many people, just how much more could a book accomplish?  I’m just trying to be the man I needed to get through everything I’ve been through. God will never give you more than you can handle.