This was a comic I made for a hijab competition on Deviantart. (Thanks a lot ZNsnowbell4 for telling me about it! >w<)

But in all seriousness. I officially started wearing the hijab on 11/23/12. Everything was all good for the first few months. But as time went by, I started to have doubts. I doubted myself and my ability to answer people's questions about why I was wearing the hijab. I would always push them to the side, and try to ignore them, but they were always there. One day, when I was feeling really down, my sister and I went shopping. During the car ride, I was talking to my sister about some hate things I had seen online. I don't remember the exact things we talked about, but I know I was thinking about how I hoped I would never receive hate. Then we went inside the store. This is where it gets amazing. Two random strangers said "Assalamualaikum" (it's how Muslims greet each other. It means "peace be upon you") to us. Now I don't know if they were Muslim or not, and I don't want to assume anything. But these two strangers will never know just how much that one small greeting and smile helped me that day. Ever since that day, whenever I had doubts or fears about getting hate, I would think back to that day, and I would immediately feel better. It's been a little more than 3 years since I started wearing the hijab and I'm still going on strong. I don't know those people, and I'll probably never see them again, but I'm forever grateful to their act of kindness.

You never know how a small act can affect someone. So next time you see a little Muslimah shopping, why not say Assalamualaikum? Who knows, maybe some day in the future, she'll make a comic about how you helped her stay strong :)