As the twig is bent so grows the tree

One my Muslim neighbors has a a little grandson who is getting old enough to start expressing his surprise that the whole world is not like his grandparent's mosque. We were on the elevator with them when he reached over and touched my calf screaming, "Leg! Leg!" His grandmother apologized profusely and I told her not to worry about it. A few years later when he was 8 he took offense to my hair and tried to shoot me with his water pistol. Luckily for him it was empty. His grandmother apologized. I think it just hit him that how could I be a contemporary of his grandmother and be uncovered and it blew his mind. He's too young to understand why a woman who was acceptable for conversation with his grandmother and grandfather could look like the evil infidels. He's just a little fellow now but if he doesn't work this out he's going to be a real problem for somebody when he becomes a teenager. I thought about the neighbor's grandson while reading Susan Matthiesen's post at Les Femmes.