Corner Store

... that I happened across whilst grazing through the satellite channels. Yousef is a Christian Palestinian running a small convenience store in San Francisco. He seems an unremarkable man, unfailingly polite to his customers, who see little beyond his public, retail face. At the beginning of this documentary, his customers are then told his story of the past 10 years. What follows shows just how remarkable an apparently ordinary man can be. Yousef is an extraordinary, driven man - driven by overwhelming, unconditional love for his family, yet so self effacing that it seems impossible that he could tolerate such an experience. This is an emotional roller-coaster for the viewer, so heaven knows what it must have been like for Yousef & his family. If you would like to know what humility is, watch this...

We rented a house around the corner from Yousef's store this summer (2011) and we would pop in there for tobacco, red bull, and cereal from time to time. One of the house mates noticed a DVD and purchased it. I watched it on the plane ride home, and got choked up a little bit that I did not get a chance to shake Yousef's hand and tell him how awesome he his.

The film is a look inside the true American dream, that anyone in this country can work hard and achieve their ideal. Kids now days have no concept of hard work and what it really takes to make it. Yousef is an inspiration.

The scenes from Palestine were shocking. I thought I had a good understanding of the situation over there, but this film shows it from the Palestinian angle which is very unnerving.