By Rachid Acim
By Rachid Acim
Morocco World News
Beni Mellal, Morocco, June 15, 2012
A few days ago, I had a strange dream that disturbed me for a whole week. I was very much excited but meanwhile I felt both scared and terrified. I didn’t sleep comfortably that night. I didn’t believe myself, either.
Strangely, the dream was that I was hosting U.S. President Barack Obama in our modest house in Beni Mellal city (160 miles south-west of Rabat). He looked elegant, and talked kind-heartedly to us, to the extent that I immediately took him for the African saint, Sidi Ahmed Tijani. He was dressed in a loose white jellaba knitted out of wool. He also had a blue turban on his head fixed smartly and some yellow slippers, which reminded me of Ali Baba. The forty thieves, however, were missing.
My mother interrogated me about the person sitting in the reception room. I replied that the person she saw was Barack Obama, the President of the United States. Due to her illiteracy, she couldn’t grasp what I said. Then, I had to clarify a little more the matter to her by analogizing Obama to the King of Saudi Arabia, the land she had visited as a pilgrim before she got married.
I told her that the Americans have a president, and that the people of Saudi Arabia have a monarch. Both of them are rulers despite some differences, one can note. Saudi Arabia is a monarchy and America is a republic . As soon as she heard my answer, my mother cautioned me not to delve into politics any longer. I stopped talking for a minute. Then, I resumed my speech to Obama.
Here it goes:
I’m indisposed to say the following words, sir. But what I saw from killings of humans, shocking genocides, atrocities, ferocious clashes between people in Syria, Palestine, Sudan, as well as in Afghanistan, prompted me to speak out, requesting your quick intervention to stop the ongoing massacres in these countries. Sir, siding with justice should be a major concern of any president.
Lots of people are dying every second, and the international community is involved in complete passivism, just observing who might be the winner in the next wrestling round.
I could have addressed the new French President François Holland or the German Chancellor Angela Merkel or even the British Prime Minister David Cameron. Yet, I know that what distinguishes you from the other leaders is that you are first and foremost a man of law.
A Nobel Peace Prize winner!
What is that prize for if it doesn’t urge one to denounce and act against injustice wherever it is.
The world we live in is no longer beautiful. Machines of repression and deadly weapons have subverted the essence of man. It is as if we are reading a human tragedy in which the protagonist survives on cruelty and bloodshed. Killing of others are now essential to please audiences, instead of shaking their emotions or evoking their pathos vis-à-vis innocent victims.
It becomes usual that women should suffer the injuries of their newborn babies, their relatives and husbands. Children, being tortured savagely and treated like animals is another beautiful scene we love to watch daily without doing anything about it.
I have deserted TV to avoid watching the bloody theatrical scenes wherein the hero is boasting of his tyranny and villainy. I have switched my computer to never look again at pictures expressing the mass sorrow and suffering. I have turned a deaf ear to speakers on radio reiterating the same horrible story.
I’m fed up, sir.
We are lucky to some extent cherishing some sort of order and tranquility, but it really hurts seeing hundreds of thousands of people dying everyday because of human stupidity and madness.
What would be American children’s reaction, as well as European and Asian ones, when seeing a Palestinian child screaming vociferously, when hearing exploding bombs exterminating everything in the house? What would be the attitude of the grownups when seeing a huge number of children, dead on the ground like grasshoppers? Do women still shed tears of sympathy when beholding their counterparts pulled back because of a headscarf or a veil?
The truth is that Man and evil are the same, sir. Love is no longer in our world. We are in a desert and the fittest of us can survive. But until when?
The world is becoming a disgusted book we feel bored to read or page through. Its authors, unfortunately, didn’t collaborate at all whilst drafting it up. Let’s dispose ourselves of it and throw it in the heap of history. Let’s instead track down other authors who can serve the human question more seriously, with much commitment.
Silence is good in a number of occasions. However, when it comes to dehumanization and victimization, we ought to speak aloud and castigate the aforementioned evils befalling on us. We ought to stand up and declare openly with one voice; “No to injustice! No to killings of innocents! No to bloodshed! No to tyranny! No. No. No!”
News reporters covering areas of military conflicts are in fact to be thanked for the great job they are doing. They risk their lives to keep the masses abreast of what’s going on. They must be applauded. Indeed, they deserve more prizes.
We become like machines – emotionless. We hardly could listen to the never-ending agonies of other humans. Political interests, so did materialistic ends, led us to turn our backs to the callings and cries of victims longing for a bright peaceful day on earth.
That day, hopefully, no sounds of rifles or rockets will be heard.
It’s quite easy. We need to celebrate a world day of peace when all soldiers are to throw their guns down and let human love speak out to the devils.
When we see clashes erupting between humans having the same flesh and blood, we had no way but to pity ourselves. We have lost all our good potentials.
Then all of a sudden, we turn out to be like animals; the world is our big farm, wherein Mr. Jones rules blindly according to his desires. Everyone seems somewhat responsible for such horror we are sustaining. But it must be recalled, some humans are more responsible than others.
As they are in the position of power and authority, I think they can make a difference. Don’t you think?
Edited by April Warren
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