I like to think of myself as a fair minded person. I know I probably am no more so than anyone else; I’m as much a product of my own upbringing and I know I have all the biases of my class, sect, race, religion, region, gender, etc … but I do try to think past them and try to see how others might think. I probably fail most of the time; I’ve never been anyone else but me so I don’t have any real experiential knowledge of anyone else.
Anyway … that said, I need to address something that has really bothered me:
The regime has arrested some of us and charged us with insulting Syria …
And … it just ain’t so. From where I sit, it’s obvious that those of us in the opposition do not hate Syria: we love our country. If that isn’t obvious to you, I don’t know what could be more so!
For me, this is a great country and ours is a great nation. In former times, we led the world: our people invented so much of what makes the world what it is (farming, cities, the alphabet … need I go on?) For thousands of years, we led the world and brought enlightenment to it. Ours is a splendid past.
But, we have in recent years fallen behind. We can blame others: trade routes change, Mongols, Ottomans, ravaged the country … and our first great national awakening was foreshortened by foreign powers (perfidious Albion and back-stabbing Gaul come to mind). But blaming others for our shortcomings only evades our responsibility for ourselves.
If we want to blame anyone, it is ourselves. We did not rise up as a whole and stop the invaders then; sectarianism allowed the Franks to gain allies here to rule … and when they left, we fought amongst ourselves and let loyalties of sect and city stand in the way of our great destiny.
Now, we must all work together to get beyond that and build a nation that will again amaze the world.
That is what the opposition wants.
I am a fair person; every now and then (very occasionally) I do admit error. But I hope I am not wrong when I say that not only are we motivated by love for our beloved bilad, so too are they. I believe, and it may sound almost like heresy to say it, but that the other side wants the same thing as we want: they also are patriots, loyal to what they see as the best interests of the nation and of Syria. They believe that they are truly protecting the country from its enemies, that our way opens up the gates of sectarian strife and war. I do not blame them for that; I too have seen the mess that has become of Iraq and how a great country was ruined. I too have thought that freedom can be deferred if it means security. But how far? How much are you willing to sacrifice for safety? And does not the sacrifice become self defeating?
We tell ourselves that it was foreigners who denied our freedom in the past and the threat of invasion has allowed them to deny freedom to ourselves more recently. The invader is not coming, though, and ours is not a nation of children. We need to free ourselves. If we want to protect our city or our sect or our clan, sometimes we must go forward on trust. And who better to defend those things than the collectivity of all of us?
We love Syria; you love Syria. Let us come together and make this the greatest country in the greatest nation once again!
حـماةَ الـديارِ عليكمْ سـلامْ
بَتْ أنْ تـذِلَّ النفـوسُ الكرامْ
عـرينُ العروبةِ بيتٌ حَـرام
وعرشُ الشّموسِ حِمَىً لا يُضَامْ
ربوعُ الشّـآمِ بـروجُ العَـلا
تُحاكي السّـماءَ بعـالي السَّـنا
فأرضٌ زهتْ بالشّموسِ الوِضَا
. سَـماءٌ لَعَمـرُكَ أو كالسَّـما
رفيـفُ الأماني وخَفـقُ الفؤادْ
عـلى عَـلَمٍ ضَمَّ شَـمْلَ البلادْ
أما فيهِ منْ كُـلِّ عـينٍ سَـوادْ
ومِـن دمِ كـلِّ شَـهيدٍ مِـدادْ؟
نفـوسٌ أبـاةٌ ومـاضٍ مجيـدْ
وروحُ الأضاحي رقيبٌ عَـتيدْ
فمِـنّا الوليـدُ و مِـنّا الرّشـيدْ
. فلـمْ لا نَسُـودُ ولِمْ لا نشـيد؟
1 comments:
I wish I could do something more to help, but words are all I have to give. These are words that have comforted me in times of great sadness, as we are currently living through. They remind that hope is still possible even in the darkest hour.
Though much is taken, much abides; and though
We are not now that strength which in the old days
Moved earth and heaven; that which we are, we are,
One equal-temper of heroic hearts,
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.
- Alfred Lord Tennyson, Ulysses
The other words I have to share are from a sci-fi source. I know you mentioned that you're an SF fan in one of your other posts, so I'll borrow some words and short clips from Babylon 5 here. (The show may be culturally-biased as all hell and at times badly written, but the words are nothing short of wondrous when they get them right.)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pJmuHNDcXLQ&t=1m50s
In case you don't have the ability to view it at the moment, the text of the speech follows:
"No dictator, no invader, can hold an imprisoned population by the fonorce of arms forever. There is no greater power in the universe than the need to be free. Against that power governments, tyrants, and armies cannot stand. The Centauri learned this lesson once. We will teach it to them again. Though it take a thousand years, we will be free."
That particular actor/character is probably one of the most inspiring figures in all of sci-fi. He unfortunately passed away due to lung cancer several years ago, but his words will live on forever. Here's another link with some more of them...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h2UQ2l9NPIg
"The war we fight is not against powers, principalities. It is againt chaos, and despair. Greater than the death of flesh is the death of hope. The death of dreams. Against this peril we can never surrender. The future is all around us in moments of transition. Moments of revelation... No one knows the shape of that future, or where it will take us. We only know that it is always born in pain."
Good luck, and please stay as safe as you can whilst doing what you have to do to win your freedom.
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