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CELEBRATE
BUT
DON'T
FORGET
By
Khaled
Al-Maeena,
Editor-in-Chief
Arab
News
Today
is Eid
Al-Fitr,
an
occasion
to feel
joy and
be glad.
But this
year I
approach
the
holiday
like a
sleepwalker,
stumbling
through
a
never-ending
nightmare.
The city
of
Jeddah
is
filled
with
bright
lights
and
merrymakers,
but I
have no
festive
spirit
within
me.
As
a
journalist,
year
after
year I
have
been
forced
to bear
witness
to man's
inhumanity
to
mankind.
When I
first
began,
it was a
job, a
challenge
to
report
the
better
story,
to get
there
first
and dig
deepest.
Details
of
destruction
were
nothing
more
than
words on
a page,
may
Allah
forgive
my
ignorance
and
youth.
Now
my
consciousness
is
overwhelmed
with the
litany
of daily
horrors.
The sad
stories
that
appear
in Arab
News are
but a
drop in
the
bucket
of
global
misery.
Four
Palestinian
children
are
killed
in one
day. We
print
the
photo of
one. An
Afghani
child
loses
his legs
to a
mine. We
don't
report
it.
There's
no space
on our
pages.
He's
just
another
victim,
one of
many.
Chechens
are
dying by
the
dozens.
International
news
agencies
no
longer
choose
to hear
their
screams,
see
their
tears or
even
remember
that
they
exist.
Not
only is
the
agony
flashing
across
monitors
in the
newsroom,
people
from
near and
far
reach
out
directly
for
assistance.
The
Internet
has
changed
the way
we
communicate.
Every
hour,
pleas
for aid
arrive
through
e-mail.
"Find
a way to
educate
my
son,"
writes
one
mother.
"My
baby
needs
surgery
or she
will
die,"
writes
another.
"My
son has
been
detained
by the
Israelis.
He is
our only
support,"
explains
a third.
I try to
help
them
all, but
I cannot
work
miracles,
and the
need is
tremendous.
So
I go out
and walk
to give
my mind
a rest.
Meandering
through
a
shopping
mall
last
week I
saw
mothers
happily
buying
dresses
for
their
daughters.
Unbidden,
my mind
was
filled
with
images
of
Palestinian
children
dressed
in rags.
I passed
a
confectionery
filled
with
cakes
and
sweets
of every
kind. In
a trick
of
light,
the
dirty,
desperate
faces of
Muslim
refugees
appeared
as
shadows
on the
shop's
windows.
Teens
loitered
on
corners,
laughing
and
telling
tales. I
thought
of the
young
Palestinians,
whose
only
crime
was
breathing,
detained
in
concentration
camps by
the
Israelis.
"Be
happy!"
my
friends
tell me.
"It's
Eid."
Instead,
my soul
mourns.
I am
surrounded
by a
society
on a
constant
quest to
shop and
spend.
People
here
never
seem to
have
enough,
no
matter
how much
they
have. In
the
final
days of
Ramadan
the
souks
were
packed
till 3
a.m.
What
happened
to the
concept
of
praying
on
Ramadan
nights
for
forgiveness?
Where
was the
time for
soul
searching
and
quiet
contemplation?
When I
opened
my mouth
to
object
to all the
materialism
in our
midst,
people
told me
to
lighten
up, that
I was
taking
life far
too
seriously.
"Don't
sweat
the
small
stuff,"
they
advised.
Bullets
and
bombs
are
definitely
small.
The
minds of
many
politicians
are
often
even
smaller.
A baby
starved
to death
becomes
really
tiny.
Explosives
can blow
homes
and
people
to
little
bits.
Foreign
policy
in some
nations
has been
reduced
to sound
bites.
In our
world,
hope has
shriveled
and
peace
has been
dwarfed
by war.
But
don't
worry
about
the
small
stuff!
It's the
big
picture
that's
really
depressing.
This
morning,
while
many of
us were
dressed
in fine
raiment,
touching
our
foreheads
to soft
rugs and
returning
to
lavish
breakfasts
and warm
beds,
around
the
world
millions
of
people
were
caught
up in
inescapable
suffering.
Just
closing
our eyes
to their
misery
will not
make it
disappear.
Sadly,
we do
not even
have to
look far
to find
those in
need.
Families
in our
own land
live in
poverty,
clinging
to the
scraps
of their
dignity
in a
nation
of abundance.
Our
world is
a
troubled
place,
filled
with
loss and
pain and
tears.
Is this
all the
future
holds
for us?
Eid Al-Fitr
is about
sharing
our
goodness
with
others.
Let this
day be a
new
beginning
in your
life.
Take a
vow to
reach
out to
all with
kindness,
tolerance
and
compassion.
Remember
the joy
of
giving.
Nurture
your
spirituality.
Perhaps
you'll
find
that
caring
for
others
brings
more
pleasure
and
rewards
than
caring
about
yourself
ever
did. Sounds
too
sentimental
and
idealistic?
Does a
world
filled
with
violence
and fear
sound
better?
Eid
Mubarak.
Source:
Arab
News
Opinion
December
5, 2002</ | 
