October 14, 2024

Every October, I rewatch Ramy on Hulu. I never plan to, but I am pulled back in to the conundrums of life as an Egyptian Muslim in North Jersey. Created by Ramy Youssef, comedian & actor, the series follows a fictional ‘Ramy’ through a number of excruciating spiritual crises.

To what do I relate, as a faithless white person, you might ask? Firstly - I don’t believe art needs to be ‘relatable’ to be appreciated. Do you have lived experience as Spiderman? No, but you enjoyed those movies, right? Then suspend your disbelief for comedy about Muslims. It’s easy!

I relate to spiritual crisis. Despite an agnostic, atheistic home life, I attended a Lutheran K-8. There, my predilection for dread was fueled by the morbid Old Testament, & my classmates’ lucid belief in eternal life, or eternal damnation. I only ever believed in the latter.

As a kid, I obsessed over ever having doing harm. I used to wake my parents up in the early morning to ask things like, “Remember when we were fishing on LBI, & we released the fish? What if the hooks made them bleed in the water, then a predator ate them?”

“Otis, what?”

Unthinkingly - my earnest, good intentions had monstrous implications for the fish. Plummeted back into its liquid atmosphere, shocked & terrified & bleeding. How could I be so careless?!

Ramy makes extreme decisions in the hopes of achieving absolution. These lead to hilarious, jaw-dropping, or tragic consequences. These he tries to obfuscate, re-frame, & lie about.

Ramy makes me laugh. Ramy makes me cry. Ramy makes me think about life, & wonder about God.