[Source: MondoWeiss]

Raed Zidan, a PALESTINIAN- American, plants the Palestinian flag on top of Mount Everest, to be the first Palestinian to ever reach the summit of Everest.

Zidan dedicated his climb to Palestinians, especially political prisoners.

Way to go Zidan, not only did you make your family proud, but you made all Palestinians and pro-Palestinians extremely proud.
With this historical accomplishment, you’ll be forever remembered as the first Palestinian who marked the existence of Palestine on the highest Mountain on the face of this planet.

It is to be mentioned that Raed Zidan  is a member of the “Arabs with Altitude” group, consisting of 4 members, that include Raha Moharrak, the first Saudi woman to reach the top of Everest, Qatari Shaikh Mohammad Al-Thani, aka Moe Al Thani, and Iranian Masoud Mohammad. The group’s main goal is to raise a million dollars for the funding of Reach Out To Asia‘s educational projects in Nepal.

So how does the 1:Face Watch change the world? it’s entirely up to the buyer; you choose the design, color and quantity of the watch(es) you wish to buy, and then decide how you prefer your money be spent. You can support breast cancer, or any other kind of cancer, fight hunger, provide drinking water, help preserve the environment, treat AIDS, or spread education. And the coolest thing is that through social media you can actually track the accomplishments being made in all mentioned fields, and see for yourself what’s being done with the money 1:Face Watch is receiving.

It comes to no surprise that the suspect’s parents believe he and his brother were actually framed, and that their sons could never do such a thing, nor plan it in the first place, is it the truth? or is just their instincts and emotions speaking? But away from the parents, most of the suspect’s friends repeatedly say that Dzhokhar was just an average college guy, he was actually named student of the month, he was studying after he got a scholarship, there was nothing fishy or freaky or suspicious about the boy… And according to many people, who are not even the suspect’s friend, details about the scene of the bombing, and the videos released tend to contradict each other and seem more like a fabricated story with really good edited images, tailored scenes and cut out recordings, than a real life story! Like the fact that many are arguing the changed color of Dzhokhar’s backpack, once it’s white, then it’s black; some are actually wondering how would a pressure-cooker-bomb fit in his backpack in the first place. Some shared a photo showing discrepancies in the face features & cap number between that of Dzhokhar and the actual suspect that was caught on tape. Another photo-analysis of the bombing scene is circulating stressing that the whole thing was “staged”. Not to mention the fact that no one is convinced he’d “run over” his brother, who is supposed to be the mastermind behind the whole thing, to save his own life and then try to kill himself when captured to “escape later execution”.
What I found also interesting is the argument of some people that if Dzhokhar’s motives were purely radical religious, then -like what radical terrorists usually do- he’d pride himself, and show off his ill-doings, brag about his accomplishments and spit out his intentions in the face of “evil”, not hide or escape or even try to kill himself.

The lack of proper proof backing up the story that he’s actually one of the bombers, made  a lot of people research the whole thing from point 0, and some people who were greatly upset by the #FreeJahar campaign at first, are starting to put things together and are joining in, believing in the ‘innocent until proven guilty’ principle.

What do I think? I think that anyone of us or our families or friends could have been there, and might have been in the news headlines, therefore I truly believe that neither I nor any of the families of the victims would feel justice is served if the wrong guy was captured and the real sick person is out enjoying his freedom, and who knows, maybe planning another deadly attack! I hope truth is revealed and the real bomber, let it be Dzhokhar or someone else, pays the price no matter who he is, what his name, color, religion or origin.

Related:

A poem for Dzhokhar by Amanda Palmer.

Alleged bomber’s aunt: Tamerlan was religious, but not radical.

http://youtu.be/oj7W0B363GU

English translation of the video:

Mother: (talking to the soldier) have mercy, he’s just a child! do you want something like that to happen to your young son?
Boy: (to his mom) wait a moment! (to the soldier) I have a test tomorrow, the school wont postpone, if I don’t show up they’ll expel me, if it was any other day I will come with you.
Soldier interrupts…
Boy: just listen to me, please,  they will kick me out of school, please, I beg you, I BEG YOU!

No one listens. The soldier cuffs the boy’s hands,  ties a band around his eyes, tells him that he’s a “hero” and promises to return him back to school the next morning.
What’s the crime that made the Israeli authorities arrest him, just a 15 year old student, in the middle of the night? he threw a few rocks at some soldiers…

The chief officer of the arresting “raids”  says -with a proud arrogant smile on his face-  that they have absolutely no problem whom they arrest, even if it was a little boy, whoever takes part in riots will be arrested.

As it is the case with all Israeli “promises”, the boy was NOT released the next morning, instead, he was sent to ‘Ofer’ prison, where he’s being trialed with a list of accusations for throwing rocks, which is of course against the Geneva Conventions.

Ahmad is not the first, and wont be the last boy to go through this and suffer from the Israeli occupation and its oppression, this happens over and over, to all Palestinian families, “almost every Palestinian family has a member or relative thrown in Israeli prison”, comments Political Analyst  Amnon Abramovich.

Helllooo, anyone watching?? anyone listening?? Human rights? political leaders? the Geneva Conventions are being, yet again, violated by Israel, human rights are being violated every day… ANY ONE AT ALL?!

Bravo World, keep watching, enjoy your frickin’ show!

I came across an article written by Vladimir Chituc, titled: “Even If It Was a Muslim, So What?” , and I  believe that, so far, I haven’t read any better article tackling the issue of Islamophobia in relation to the Boston Marathon Bombings than this one.
I do encourage readers to read the article in full, but below are the paragraphs that I believe summarize the main points and do certainly hit the nail right on the head.

“What would have happened, though, if the perpetrator was this 20-year-old Saudi, who was just in the wrong place at the wrong time looking the wrong color and maybe calling out to the name of the wrong-sounding God? What if it was some other Muslim, instead? Why should that even matter?

“They use extraordinary examples as an excuse to rub in our faces how violent and harmful a religion Islam is… But what about the Gallup poll that shows that 93 percent of Muslims in the world aren’t radical, and that the radicals give political, not religious, justifications for their violence? What about the study out of Duke and UNC Chapel Hill showing that only 6 percent of terrorist attacks in the U.S. have been by Muslims? What about the studies by Robert Pape showing that nearly all suicide bombings have the secular goal of resisting Western occupation, rather than any religious aim? What about the secular and nationalist group, the Tamil Tigers, which pioneered the modern suicide attack, accounting for the majority in the latter end of the 20th century? …

“We don’t see Muslims in Minnesotta blowing themselves up because of Islam, so why should we even take seriously the idea that religion is involved when the effect is entirely explained by other factors? Stalin may very well have said “religion is a poison” as he was ordering the massacre of clergymen in Soviet Russia, but I think most of us are happy to chalk this up to economics, politics and nationalism. I see no reason we should treat Islam any differently. …

“… More than that, though, this topic is important because of how we treat people like the 20-year-old Saudi, a visiting student who looks, to many, more like a killer than a victim.
If we find out tomorrow that the bomber was a right-wing radical protesting tax day, then no one will look at their Republican friends any differently, and no Republicans will feel the need to be careful about how they respond in a tragedy. But if we find out tomorrow that the bomber was a Muslim, then I don’t think we can say the same. And that’s a problem.”
[Article in full]

What happened in the Boston Marathon was tragic, inhumane, heart-breaking and I don’t think that any culture, or religion,  justifies or encourages such terrorism. I hope they catch the one(s) behind this tragedy and that they get what they deserve no matter where they come from, or what they believe in.

Related:

* Sign this petition to demand an apology from the New York Post for racial profiling and the harm it caused to the Saudi student.

* Another very well written article on the same issue, this time by Andreas Rekdal, titled: ‘The bomber isn’t one of “us” – and probably not one of “them”, either‘.

موضوع عجيب، فيديو كليب أعجب ولكن الكلمات هي التي تركتني مُزبَهلّة: ، وبالأخص تشبيه الحبيبة بالكيكة (حبيبي   كيكة كيكة كيكة…)  يا سلام

لا يمكن لقلب أو عقل أي بني آدم إلاّ أن يشمئز ويحزن بل وينفطر لما يحدث الآن في مصر… وما أكرهه أكثر من أي شيء هو المنحى الذي يصر العرب على اتخاذه في عز الأزمات التي يمرون فيها ، وهو منحى التصنيف/التمييز الديني، فما يحدث الآن في مصر، وما يمكن أن يحدث في أي بلد عربي آخر ما لم تتم معالجة الجهل والغباء الذي اسمه التصنيف الديني، هو رجوع للوراء وليس تقدما، هو تفكك وتشتت، وليس اتحادا… ما ينتشر على وسائل الإعلام والفآيسبوك وتويتر من عبارات كره قائمة على “التصنيف الديني” شيء مُبكي بصراحة. كفى تشدقا بالدين، كفى عنفا وتمييزا وإيذاءا باسم الدين، كفى قتلا وتكفيرا، فعندما أرى دمّا مُراقا لعربي لا أبكي لأنه من ديني، بل أبكي لأنه من عرقي أولا، ولأنه بشر وإنسان وروح ثانيا، الدين مسألة شخصية بين العبد وربه، وليس لأي إنسان أن يستخدمه كضوء أخضر للتشنيع المُقزّز الذي نشهده. ولا أجد أبلغ من أبيات أمير الشعراء أحمد شوقي لتعبر عمّا يجول في خاطري

الديــــــن لله من شـــاء الإله هدى لكل نفس هوىً في الدين داعيها

ما كان مختلف الأديــــان داعيـــة إلى اختلاف البرايــا أو تعـاديها

الكتب والرســل والأديـان قاطبــةً خزائن الحكمة الكبرى لواعـيها

محبــة الله أصـــــلٌ في مراشــدها وخشـــية الله أسٌّ في مبانيـــــها

تسامح النفس معنىً من مروءتــها بل المروءة في أسمى معانيـــها

تخلّق الصفح تسعد في الحياة به فالنفس يسعدها خلقٌ ويشقيها

ويحكي عن مصر وأهلها:

سبق النيل بالأبوة فينا … فهو أصل وآدم الجد تالي
يا شباب الديار مصر إليكم … ولواء العرين للأشبال
هيئوها لما يليق بمنف … وكريم الآثار والأطلال
وإلى الله من مشى بصليب … في يديه ومن مشى بهلال
لا تجعلوا الدين باب الشر بينكم … ولا محل مباهاة وإذلالِ
ما الدين إلا تراث الناس قبلكم … كل امرئ لأبيه تابع تالي

ومن أجمل ما قال شوقي في الطوائف الدينية في مصر:

أعهدتنا والقبط إلا أمة … للأرض واحدة تروم مراما
نعلي تعاليم المسيح لأجلهم … ويوقرون لأجلنا الإسلاما
الدين للديان جل جلاله … لو شاء ربك وحد الأقواما

 لا للتعصب، لا للطائفية، نعم للتسامح والتآخي والتعايش، فكما قال شوقي
قل إذا خاطبت غير المسلمين لكمو دينٌ رضيتم وَلْيَ دينُ
خـــــــــلّ لــلديــّان فيهم شانهُ إنــــــه خـــالـقهم سبحانــهُ

 من الجدير بالذكرأنّ بعض الأعمال السينمائية حاولت التطرق لهذا التعصب الديني، فهناك على سبيل المثال الفيلم المصري  حسن ومرقص“، بطولة عمر الشريف وعادل إمام، والفيلم اللبناني” وهلّأ لوين“، من إخراج نادين لبكي”.

Here’s the story in summary: Ms. Faith went to the barbershop asking for a men’s haircut, the barber she asked  replied -politely- that he cannot provide the service to her, explaining, politely, that due to religious reasons he is not to touch a woman. He then followed up: “but if you like you can check with one of my colleagues who can do this for you”.
Ms. Faith vowed to file a suit, and started a cold media war on him and his shop because of this.

About the Terminal Barbershop: The Terminal Barbershop  chose its own theme and decoration with special attention to reserve its own old image as a retro barbershop, back when a barbershop translated into: a men’s hair-cutting shop. That’s why so many men think it’s unique and original, and a lot of people come to enjoy this retro atmosphere.  More about The Terminal Barbershop.

You can also watch this video: watch?v=E0LT_d1kuhc

Anyway, let me logically explain why this “case” has no solid grounds:

Allegations:
1. Homophobia: gay men are part of The Terminal Barbershop loyal clientele. No gay man has ever experienced an ounce of disrespect, rejection, discomfort, harassment  or humiliation. All barbers are extremely professional.
2. Discriminating Against Women: Most of the clients understand the nature of the place, it being themed as the definition of  an old men’s barbershop. It doesn’t mean they hate women, these barbers have wives, daughters, mothers, sisters, friends… they just “committed the crime” of trying to have only one single place ( to thousands that are unisex) in which they reserved the identity of an old-fashioned barbershop, what’s the big deal? And when ladies like to accompany their brothers, hubbies, sons, boyfriends, friends while they have their haircut or shave they can come in and wait. Some women -whether straight or gay- who don’t know the nature of the place ask for a haircut, if the barber that was approached cannot provide the service out of religious reasons, he usually explains politely, and if no other colleague (who has no problem with touching women’s hair) is around to serve the lady, he’d simply show her the way to the nearest unisex hair salon (which is right across The Terminal Barbershop). These women showed great respect and tolerance to their fellow Canadian citizen and moved on.
3. Discriminating against lesbians:  lesbians are women, regardless of their sexual preferences and stands in life. And if there’s no discrimination against women, as explained above, then by default there’s no discrimination against lesbians. Just like all men are welcome regardless of their sexual orientation, all women, to Muslim barbers  -who choose not to touch women- are taboo.

Lack of consistency: there’s an obvious lack of consistency in Ms. Faith’s claims, each interview she does reads differently than the other. One time they’re refusing to serve her because she’s lesbian, another time it’s because she’s a woman;  in an interview it’s because the barbers are homophobic altogether, and in another interview they’re doing it over religion… someone needs to make up her mind!

The opening line of one of the interviews went like this:  ”all she wanted was a haircut”, but when you read all these interviews and note the inconsistency on one hand, and think of all the time and effort wasted on this incident on the other, one can’t but start doubting the motive. Could it be fame? or a financial settlement perhaps?

Legal Stand & Suggested Legal action as a solution: cases like these promote hatred and disruptive behavior. They tear societies apart and encourage intolerance, racism and division. This is not the first case of its kind by the way, and if Ms. Faith wins this, then it’s a green card to anyone to sue anyone in the name of discrimination.  Seeing the hate comments, any legal action taken against the barbershop means law’s affirmation to all these negative and violent notions. The legal solution in my humble opinion is not to force someone to do something against their beliefs or will, depriving them from the basic human right of choice and practicing religion, the solution should be as simple as giving hair salons & barbershops the simple choice of categorizing their target-clientele, just like any other business. Just like there are Vegetarian Restaurants,  Men’s Fashion Stores, Women Fashion Boutiques,  Women spas,  Women Yoga classes, Kids Hair salons, Montessori Schools, Senior Fitness Clubs, there should be a choice for salons to be Kids, Men, Women, or Unisex salons. This way we have all kinds of services and alternatives that cater to all kinds of customers, and we avoid any uncomfortable situations either the barber or the customer may go through, but most importantly, by having the choice of categorizing , law would be able to protect businesses from unnecessary lawsuits. It’s as simple as that.

The Real lawsuit that should be filed: Ms. Faith is oppressing a Canadian citizen who belongs to a religious minority, she’s harming his and his workplace’s reputation by going to media,  causing both emotional and financial harm, and therefore, the way I see it,  the barbershop should sue for defamation; both slander and libel, since she’s purposely causing financial and emotional harm by wrongfully accusing The Terminal Barbershop of being sexist and discriminating against women,  in published written articles,  social media platforms, as well as broadcast journalism. Also the barbershop should file a lawsuit against all media groups that committed this wrongdoing.

Discussing the comments & answering some questions: 

Brief explanation of religious reason: Islam is only one of other religions (there are also cultures) in which practicing members are not to touch a woman’s body/hair. Touching equals intimacy, and therefore must be limited to family members and spouses. Unless it’s a medical necessity that is. Many Muslims don’t shake hands, many do, many don’t touch a woman’s hair, many do. It’s a personal choice within the Muslim community itself.   Social norms are mostly culture- or religion-related, as long as politeness is taken into consideration and as long as alternatives exist we should respect each others’ principals and choices.

But what if doctors start doing the same? In Islam, medical necessity requires from both genders to be in direct contact with the patient. A female/male Muslim doctor/ nurse, even if practicing, knows there’s no choice when it comes to medicine. It’s different.

If he doesn’t like it, let him go back to his home country! All immigrants out: this is what a lot of comments on more than one interview posted on more than one site read. First and foremost, all owners of The Terminal Barbershop are proud Canadian citizens. But like many Canadian citizens the barber in question came from a different country. And even if he was a ‘fresh immigrant’, just a resident, no one can be mean to him or kick him out. He never harassed or discriminated against anyone, all he wants is the freedom of choice and practicing his religion . For those who don’t know, unless it’s a disaster area, an immigrant goes through lots of stages, and only the crème de la crème (of those who want to immigrate) succeed in completing and passing the process of immigrating. Unlike what many ignorant people think, for an immigrant to make it here, Canada makes sure he/she meets all standards on all levels, educational, career-related, and socially.   Therefore no one has the right to bully anyone on basis of color, religion, or ethnic background.

What if  Ms.Faith wins? then this is the true situation in which we can say there will be no end to it. A gay man who wants to register in a women-only fitness center will be able to file a lawsuit if denied the right to do so; a lesbian who wants to use the men’s washroom will sue if someone prohibited her from doing so. A woman (gay or straight) would be sued for refusing to give a bikini wax to a man whether gay or straight… in short, it’ll be chaos, it will take away the right and freedom of choice.

I’d like to mention that homosexuals here in Canada enjoy a great deal of equality, freedom, and social recognition. They’re accepted everywhere as family members, classmates, friends, coworkers, TV hosts, nurses… etc. No one denies their equal rights to employment, participation in society, education, or anything. So it’s really upsetting when you see someone playing the discrimination card in such a society. Law should encourage coexistence, respect, tolerance  and the sense of community so that Canada will always be the leader in human rights, and will always reserve its beautiful unique diversity.

One of the funniest things I heard yesterday afternoon was one of my neighbors explaining ‘Sandy’ to her kids and saying: “so, what I’m trying to say is, this is when all your crappy glow-in-the-dark stuff comes in handy”.

From our side of the building you can see Toronto city -usually clearly- so when we heard about the power cuts and saw the lights go off we started to freak out a bit I must admit, especially when we learned from TV & Twitter that sirens were constantly sounding in downtown Toronto to urge people to seek shelter as Sandy actually arrived. That’s when I also learned that among all this madness some people were actually complaining about home delivery services stopping “until further notice”.

Back to our building, in it you could easily tell who’s a new-comer and who isn’t, simply by looking through your window. When you see family members sticking their hands & faces onto the cold window glass trying to capture it all live in action you know they’re new-comers, the longer they stay still in this position, the newer to the country they are, because those who are here for a while know better than being so close to what could be a direct cause of death.
Another sign to distinguish new-comers from the rest is that they tend to turn disaster-times into little gatherings/house-parties. Table full of yummy finger-foods, snacks, tea/coffee/pop and everyone is watching live-news and making long-distance calls  exaggerating things to make their relatives & loved ones worried sick and think they’re brave heroes facing THE STORM

Kids were hoping Sandy would be more fierce and would stay longer to have the day off of course.  They were all let down when they woke up to what turned out to be a beautiful morning… Passing by a few scattered street & restaurant signs on the way to the school bus stop they were all giving their parents the “puppy-face” look in a last attempt to try to skip school: “but the storm knocked the signs down to the ground, we no longer know the right direction, it’s not safe” they’d say, and before they get the parents’ reaction they’d point to a broken sign on the sidewalk and shout: “check this out, cooooooool”.

Anyway nice weather didn’t last for long; it turned a bit crazy at noon, colder than the morning, more wet, so darn foggy. Now things are getting back to normal I guess. So no need to worry about us, in case you did in the first place!

With all this madness going on, one can’t but respect the Canadian spirit and positivity. On the streets people are all happy Sandy didn’t mess much with Canada, they’re trying to clean up after the storm with smiles on their faces. On Twitter some are tweeting how happy they are the tree didn’t fall on their car/ house instead of focusing on the chaos it left behind.

I leave you with some photos of the super storm as it passed by Southern Ontario.

الغربة؛ أصعب ما فيها أوّلها، لا يهم إن كنت تغترب عن أهلك أو بلدك أو ثقافتك أو حتى قارّتك، فالغربة من أي نوع صعبة، خاصة في أوّلها. بالطبع لا يستوي المغترب المجبور مع ذلك الذي اختار الغربة بنفسه، ولا يمكن مقارنة من يختلف عليه كل شيء مرة واحدة بذلك الذي اختلف عليه شيء واحد، ولكن بالنهاية، الفراغ على اختلاف درجاته يؤلم كل واحد بطريقة ما.

أوّل غربة لي كانت في أحضان الوطن العربي، تونس، أحببتها وأهلها الطيبين، ولكن كوني بشر لا أُنكر كم كانت أوّل فترة قاسية وصعبة. لم أترك طريقا إلاّ وسلكته لأشعر بأنّه لم يتغيّر علي شيء. ولكن، ومع إشراقة كل صباح، كان كل ما يحيط بي يذكّرني أني في مكان مختلف. رائحة الياسمين العطرة التي عشقتها وأدمنتها لاحقا، اللهجة التي كانت غريبة علي والتي كانت تُسمعني نفسها كلّما فتحت النافذة أو كلما خرجت من المنزل، الأصوات، العادات، الأكل، كل شيء كان جميل وله مذاق ورائحة مميزين، ولكن مختلفين عمّا تربيت عليه وتعودت عليه سنين عمري كلّه. كنت أشتاق لرائحة بلادي، شاي بلادي، قهوة بلادي، لهجتي، وجوه ناسي، أهلي، عمارات مدينتي حتى البالية منها، أشتهي أكلاتنا، تلك التي مهما حاولت صنعها في البيت، لن تضاهي طعمها التي تعودته عند شرائها من الشارع والمحلات الصغيرة. كنت أشتاق لكل شيء. لهذا كنت أفرح إذا ما سمعت شخصا من بلادي أو من نواحيها يتكلم في السوق، وأحاول أن أروي ظمئي بالمشي خلفهم للحظات معدودة لأملأ مخزون شوقي واشتياقي. لم يكن لدي حينها قنوات فضائية، ولم يكن لدي أصدقاء لا من بلدي الأم ولا من أمّي الثانية تونس. وفي يوم مشمس جميل، كنت أحس بالاختناق، لم أكن قد عثرت بعد على عمل، أحسست بفراغ فظيع وشوق أفظع، فقررت الذهاب إلى دكاّن الحارة (العطّار) لشراء بعض الاحتياجات المنزلية، كانت صاحبة الدكان حنونة جدا، تعلمني كل مرة مصطلح تونسي أو كلمة فرنسية، تطلعني على العادات والتقاليد  وتحاول جاهدة مساعدتي وكأنها تقربني. كان مشواري لها بمثابة متَنفّس. في ذلك اليوم ، وفيما كنت تائهة في ذكرياتي وإذا بي أسمع نغمات إحدى أحب أغنيات فيروز إلى قلبي:”نحنا والقمر جيران”، كان يغنيها شاب ما ويعزف ألحانها على غيتاره، في أحد المباني القريبة… لمستني الألحان وأحسست أني سافرت إلى عالمي وفرحت كثيرا كثيرا. وصلت لصاحبة الدكان، وبعدما دفعت الحساب سألتني عن وصفة “اللبنة” فأعطيتها إياها وقلت لها أنني سأذيقها منها في زيارتي القادمة، فقالت لي أنها لا تسأل لنفسها بل أن هناك شاب فلسطيني  جديد يظل يسألها عنها فوعدته أن تعطيه وصفة مضمونة لصنعها لأنها ليست متوفرة في الأسواق.

بعد أيام قليلة ذهبت إليها، كان الهدوء يلف كل الحي لا نغمات مألوفة ولا أغنيات عزيزة على القلب. وصلت للدكان وبعد انتهائي من الشراء شكرتني باسم الشاب لأنه جرب الوصفة وأعجبته وسأل هذه المرة عن وصفة الخبز، فأعطيتها إياها وتذمرت من طولها، فأعطيتها اسم المطعم الذي يمكنه بيع هذا الخبز ونبهتها أنه غالي بعض الشيء فشكرتني وذهبت. في طريقي للعودة سمعت دندنات تونسية هذه المرة، بنفس الصوت، نفس الشاب، على الغيتار أيضا، لا أذكر الأغنية، ولكن وقبل وصولي إلى المنزل بلحظات سمعته يغني “نحنا والقمر جيران”  مرة أُخرى، مع الأسف لم أستطع سماعها كلها ولكن أثلج صدري المقطع القصير الذي سمعته.

بعد يومين أو أكثر ذهبت للدكان، فشكرتني مرة ثانية، وقالت لي أن الشاب يحس بغربة شديدة ولكن هذه الوصفات تساعده على التأقلم وتوفر له مذاق أكلات بلاده، ثم قالت لي أنه جاءها يحمل كيس خبز بيد وغيتاره باليد الأُخرى، “وأذاقني بعض ‘خبزكم’ وكان لذيذا”، ثم أضافت: “أمّا موش كيما  خبزنا عاد”، فضحكنا معا، ورحلت.  وفي طريقي للبيت سمعته يدندن “أحن إلى خبز أمي وقهوة أمي” فلم أستطع أن أمسك دموعي التي تهاطلت لسببين، أولهما أني كنت أعاني من نفس هذا الحنين، وثانيهما أنه لا يوجد لدي أو لدى أي شخص في العالم أي وصفة تعطيه نفس مذاق خبز أمه وقهوتها… ولكن وفي قرارة نفسي كنت سعيدة، فمع أنّي لم ألتق ذاك الشاب، ولم أر وجهه قط، ومع أنه لم يراني ولم يلتق بي قط فقد أسعدني دون أن يعلم بنغماته ودندناته ولو لدقائق معدودة وقرّب لي مكان كان بعيدا جدا؛ وبالمثل فقد ساعدته أنا ولو بقدر بسيط على إحضار جزء من عالمه الذي يسكن روحه إلى عالمه الذي يسكنه جسده.

صحيح أن الغربة بكل أنواعها صعبة، ولكن أؤمن بأنه على الإنسان أن يبحث عن أي شيء مهما كان بسيطا أو صغيرا ليدخل السرور إلى قلبه وقلب غيره  بطريقة بريئة نظيفة دون انتظار أي مقابل. فالغربة إمّا أن تخلق منك إنسانا مرهف الحس وتفجر فيك جوانب إنسانية لم تكن تدرك أنها بداخلك، أو أنها تحوّلك إلى وحش عديم الإحساس والشعور، حاول أن تكون من النوع الأول… وإلى كل مغترب يشعر بالحنين أهدي صوت فيروز وكلمات أغنيتها العذبة، اسمعوا المقدمة الجميلة فهي جدا معبّرة:

watch?v=nfHoMCbMdyo

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