“We have
to go pack your stuff now.”
“But where are we going?”
“Anywhere but here!!”
Then we heard the sound of bombs so high we knew
they weren’t that far off.
Those were the last words I remember I shouted in my own home in my country ten years ago.
I have been taunted with this memory ever since, seeing it in my nightmares. I
dream about it once every week, and sometimes more.
I have studied and worked hard ever since my childhood, and now I am a doctor,
and my wish is to work with the “Doctors without Borders “organization so that children won’t suffer the same
labyrinth I suffered ten years ago.
The registration involved filling an online form
and sending it to the organization. All
the questions in the form were scientific facts, all but the last question.
The last question said: “Q 50: Explain what the word “Migrate” means to
you.”
I thought about this question for days, and then on the final day of the submission, I answered the question in the best
viable way my mind came up with.
“Migrate is a word that means love, sacrifice, and heart breaks. It also means
fear, injuries, and blood.
Whenever I think of the word migrate, I
see it resembling love, because it reminds of the time when my dad, ten years
ago, yelled at us “We need to leave pack your stuff now.”.
I guess I was young at that time to understand
it, but now I do.
He told us to go; he wanted us to migrate, for our safety
because he really loved us.
He sacrificed not something that can be touched, but
something that can only be felt and never replaced, he surrendered his country
to the hands of the intruders causing a heartbreak on both sides.
It is a world
full of injustice. A world that
takes the rights of an innocent citizen to stay in his own country and to live
peacefully on its grounds.
It’s a world which causes terror for
children letting them have nightmares about it for
years.
I suffered from the crisis of migration when I was young, due to war, and I am
still suffering.
This word “Migrate” is what motivates me to work harder, and apply for your
organization, because I believe that all the children
and adults have the right to live safely
without facing all the injustice in this world full of danger and evil motives
After a
few days of sending that form to the doctors without borders organization, I
sat down in my garden to enjoy the beautiful spring weather which I loved the
most.
After half an hour of quiet time and relaxation,
I decided to check my facebook account.
I logged in, and what I saw made me wish
I never had.
Pictures of children, women, men, and
elderly all killed or burned to death. An image that only a dark hearted person
can tolerate
Men and women were crying. Children were orphaned
and forced to take care of their siblings after their parents died under the
shattered pieces of their homes, standing as strong as mountains in front of
everyone while breaking down on the inside.
An old man is sitting in between all this mess and crying his eyes
out. From the look on his face, you can see
he has suffered a lot through only, 1 hour of bombings, as the news stated. But
is that true? Was it more or less? We can never know.
Then I stopped by a picture of a journalist who took a selfie while the dead
bodies were behind her.
Is this the humanity we were born with?
Is this the independence that those civilians wanted for their country?
I was still swallowing the shock of the horrible scenes I saw and decided that I should sleep, but instead of sleeping,
I kept weeping on the very miserable
condition the world reached to till I fell asleep.
I wept at
every chance.
I couldn't stand the idea that people suffer everyday
minute and second, and I can't do anything.
Today, we had to attend a discussion about the differences between children in
the eastern and western parts of the world.
I worked and exhausted myself in working to forget the immense pain I felt, but
I never succeeded.
It's 1:50 o'clock I should probably be heading towards the discussion hall.
I entered and took a seat.
The lecturer popped in and started
talking:
" You all came here anticipating to hear the similarities between the
children in the eastern and western parts of the world, but we brought you here
to discuss each similarity since there are hardly any differences. "
"No." I heard myself say "there are more differences than you
could even think are possible."
" Is that so? Why don't you enlighten us with some then" he said
grinning.
"Gladly" I replied.
" You are comparing, for instance, a kid from America and a kid from
Palestine. The American child goes to
school every day walking in most cases,
feeling safe and then goes home studies plays
on his PS or Xbox or whatever and takes a
nap and the most important thing is that he can sleep well at night because he knows he's safe. Isn't that
right?"
"Indeed it is "
" On the other hand, the Palestinian kid is the total opposite. He has to
go to school every morning scared that an Israeli citizen will see him, and
maybe shoot him. Not because he minds to die, it's
the best gift you could offer him, to breath his
last breath for the sake of his country, to let his blood water his
country's earth and to let those olive trees grow again. But because he has a family, he has to look after.
Why are
you shocked?
Yes, he does in a matter of 5 minutes his
childhood ended. Those five minutes when he was
told that his parents were killed or imprisoned, and he is the only
supporter for his three younger siblings.
Are those similarities?
He has to work to feed his siblings, and clean after them, teach them and even
be there to let them sleep peacefully after a nightmare although he suffers
nightmares himself. He doesn't play, nor have fun. He can't take a nap during
the day or sleep peacefully during the night. He is way to scared that his house may be
burnt on him and his siblings while they are in dream land.
In international standards, a kid is
anyone under the age of 18, but in this situation,
I see that maybe this 13-15 year old is an adult that holds more
responsibilities than most of the grownups around the world.
He is solid on the outside but breaking on
the inside. And what can he do?! Nobody sees that he has any rights, he is
denied by the world. Considered a terrorist for doing simply nothing except
taking on responsibilities he never wanted.
Is that what you were talking about because I can't see any similarities all I
can see are differences.
And tell you what! I'm leaving I can't tolerate more of the nonsense you
said"
I storm out, thinking how Palestinian,
and Syrian children are suffering now either dying through migration or killed
without a fault.
And what do I see then?
The Israeli embassy celebrates independence.
Excuse me but is Israel a country?
A country has to have a government, citizens, and a land.
Mind you they have the first two, but they don't have the third, so simply they
are a gang which stole a land by power and claimed it to be theirs.
This is unbelievable.
The media just feeds us whatever it wants,
and we eat it never bothering to see whether it's
poisonous or not.
Migration
is a suffer, but loss of peace is an even bigger suffer.
These two
causes stand now as the main results and reasons for terrorism, weird huh?
Allow me to explain:
When terrorism first broke out, it caused migration and lack of peace, those
two birds haunted children’s’ dreams with their intense noise until the
children could hold no more, and the best way for them out of this labyrinth is
to terrorize others, or to be part of
the noise and embrace it, and this is exactly what led us to where we are now.
I pray
god every day to have peace spread upon this world, maybe the parasite of
terrorism will just lose its will and reason to live, and will relieve us from
its haunting presence.
Amen.
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