Extraordinariness of the Ordinary

      I was walking to Fordham on my usual route, talking to my friends about this exact assignment when my friend pointed out the quote on the dry cleaners’ window: “God loves you”. When I saw it, I thought to myself how strange it was to have such a quote plastered on the storefront of a dry cleaners, of all places. This dry cleaners is located one block away from Fordham, right across the street on 9th avenue between 59th and 60th street. Looking even closer at the storefront I noticed additional religious statements on the pull-down blinds behind the window, which said, “God loves you and offers you a wonderful plan for your life”. 

      This unique combination of the dry cleaners and these religious expressions really just made me question, why? Did the owners of the dry cleaners place these quotes for themselves, as a reminder of some sort? Or to advertise their religious beliefs? Or did they put it on their window to attract customers? Are clean clothes part of God’s plan? It left me thinking about all sorts of questions that I wasn’t sure how to answer. 

      I don’t think I can even count the number of times I must have walked past this particular dry cleaners and its sign, yet this was the first time I had ever noticed its obviously religious signage and its obscure placement. It is so blatantly religious, but at the same time its placement causes it to mix in with all the other writing on the window (“dry cleaning”, “leather, fur & silk”, “all work hand finished”, etc.) making it easy to miss or even ignore completely. 

      This idea reminded me of the “extraordinariness of the ordinary” that Houtman and Meyer talk about in their essay “How Things Matter” (4). This dry cleaners is located in between a Starbucks and an animal hospital; there is nothing significant or religious about it, and is very much ordinary. However this idea of “God loves you” is implemented everyday in the mundane things. The people that work there probably come in every day and see that sign and live by that message. It begins to carry more meaning and become more significant, as they live their lives in such a way not only while in church, but in their everyday lives.  

      Another connection I made was to Leila Ahmed’s A Border Passage, in which she talks about the two sides of the religion of Islam. In her book she explains how there are almost two different Islams, the women’s and the men’s, that do two different things. I thought it was interesting how she talked about the “women’s Islam” as being more day-to-day and lived-in religion, while the “men’s Islam” was more dogmatic. Perhaps the “women’s Islam” that Ahem talks about could be an interesting comparison to this less aggressive way of expressing religion; expressing religion by living it on an everyday and day-to-day level. Like the women of Islam, their religion is shown through their way of living and being, rather than the more official and traditional church-going way. 

      It also made me think about the various ways one can go about expressing their religion. As we have learned in our class, there are many many ways to approach religion. Some may outwardly preach their religion to others, whether it be aggressive or done in a more subtle manner, while others may simply express their religion by living it. I think these statements on this window explore this duality. As I previously mentioned, the religiousness is so apparent and unhidden. But at the same time, the religious sentiment is not abrasive in the delivery of its message, as it is just a simple quote on a window. Housman and Meyer’s essay also talks about how sometimes certain ritualistic religions “are branded as inferior, superficial, or even insincere” (2). Sometimes the more ritualistic and official religions don't have the same effect as something more personal and less in-your-face. Maybe this was an attempt to express their religion in a less aggressive and insincere manner, an attempt that could be perceived as being more effective. 

Works Cited

Houtman, Dick and Birgit Meyer, “Introduction: Material Religion—How Things Matter” in Things: Religion and the Question of Materiality (2012)