On our flight out from Prague to Frankfurt, we sat across from a Muslim family in the departure lounge.

The mother was wearing a full-body burqa, the kind that covers everything except for the eyes.

The husband was dressed in western-style clothes, as were the two boys. One of the boys, maybe 12-14 years old, was wearing a shirt that read, "We both know that you want me." Interesting, since that the given reason for the burqa is that men who see any of a woman's skin won't be able to control themselves.

I kept wodering if the woman was smiling, frowning, or neither, under her face covering. I kept wondering if she really believed that men couldn't control themselves if they saw any of her skin, or if she had other reasons for wearing it (e.g., Forced by husband? Likes being anonymous? There are a plethora of potential reasons.) It turned out that this family was in the same row as us on the plane, with the man sitting right next to me.

He struck up a conversation with me; it was limited because of his minimal English skills and my non-existent Arabic skills. He was from Kuwait, and quickly learned that we were from the US. "USA good!" he exclaimed with two thumbs up. "Bush good!" Two thumbs up again. I presume he was talking about Bush Sr., for leading the liberation of Kuwait. But you never know.

We had a couple of laughs at a few random things, and I looked at his wife, across the aisle. Her face covering was removed (but not the rest of the burqa) and she was laughing and smiling along with us.

Separately, we had a Catholic nun with us in our 38-person tour group. You get to know people a bit on a trip like this, and I really enjoyed my conversations with Sister Francine; she is a terrific person. She runs a Catholic girls school in Southern California, and she told me that 10 percent of her students are Muslims. The simple reason: the parents want their kids to get a good education, and the public schools in the area aren't cutting it.

Reminds me of a reporter for The Wall Street Journal who recently wrote a book about Muslims in the US; he traveled the country and interviewed families extensively. The reporter, it turns out, was a Harvard graduate. Any guesses as to the the number one concern of most Muslim families? How to get their kids into a good college, and particularly, into Harvard.

Tough to draw conclusions from any of this, but I just take it as further reminders that Muslims are not "against us," per se. Their religion has been hijacked by a small minority of extremists, and people generally are terrified of speaking up and speaking out to denounce the hijackers. Look what typically happens to those who do speak up.