I Never Wanted To Be God

Realizing My Blessings Were A Curse In Disguise

When I first met Ahmed, I had no idea that I would change his life. Neither did he. I sometimes wonder if he ever regretted meeting me.

In 2003, I spent some time in the Gaza Strip. That’s when I met Ahmed*. He’d been friends with Vanessa*, a French woman turned Muslim, who lived in the studio next to mine and taught him French.

We would hang out together in her place, trying to communicate with my severely limited Arabic and his very basic French. We’d…