Last week I wrote about sixteen young French people, in their twenties, who were in the United States learning about how non-government agencies in our country provide various social services and how they raise the money to fund what they do. This week I want to relate something that happened at the end of that visit.
I was the coordinator for the things they did during their week in St. Louis. On the last night they were here, one of the young French men who was a practicing Muslim asked to talk with me in private. When we were alone, he said, “If I ask you a question, do you promise that you will not get mad at me?” We had been together for a week, and without hesitation I replied, “I think you know me well enough to know that you can ask me any question, and I will not get mad.”
He then asked me another question. “If I ask you a question, do you promise that you will tell me the truth?” Beginning to wonder where this conversation was going, I replied with conviction, but in a kind manner: “You may ask me any question, and I will not get mad, and I promise that I will not lie to you. Now, what is it that you want to ask me?”
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