Maktub (2)
“Has God dictated that political power should be handed down from grandfather to father and from father to son? Has he dictated that millions should be squandered annually on dilapidated roads? Has he ordained the encroachment of public properties, thus denying people access to the beaches, unless they were seeking death in the Indonesian waters? Is our desperate longing for water and power supply a God-ordained fate? Has the Lord written that we should turn disasters into parodies and trip over ourselves to demonstrate empathy toward those fleeing to Australia, in a spectacle resembling a ridiculous and disgusting farce?”
The Lebanese never cease to amaze you by their level of endurance. We are yet to discover electricity and to realize that air and water pollution will inevitably lead to contaminated food. We are yet to comprehend that the lack of official inspection of food and consumer products is bound to create a similar outcome. The horror of the incidents we have suffered over the past two years- 2013/2014- has left us shaken and wondering: Aren’t calamities on such a scale sufficient on their own for an awakening? The sinking of the ferry off the Indonesian coast is only one of many such calamities and below, we restrict ourselves to mentioning another four:
- The absence of a public budget since 2005, which stands as an unprecedented phenomenon in today’s world and is more serious than the absence of a Head of State or the extension of Parliament’s term or all other constitutional riddles
- The slaughter and abduction of soldiers
- The pass certificates issued by the Minister of Education to all the students who applied for official exams in lieu of the official certificates
- The scandal of contaminated food
Has God predestined that our air and water and restaurants should be contaminated? Has He predestined us to drown every year in heavy rains and wastewater on the approach of winter? Has God predestined our students to pass their exams without even sitting for such exams? Has He dictated that our soldiers and consequently their families and the entire country should be abducted?
- 347 people have been either killed or injured in security-related incidents since the beginning of 2013 until September 2014.
- 35 people were victims of the ferry tragedy off the Indonesian coast.
- Hundreds of popular restaurants and supermarkets nationwide were discovered to be selling spoiled and contaminated products.
- 110,000 students were given pass certificates by simply showing their official exam candidate cards.
In this context, we recall Ahmad Shawki’s verses in his play The Death of Cleopatra
“Oh, hark, Duyun my dear and hear
How my killers insinuate
To masses that like parrots cheer
And unwittingly celebrate
Without a hint of dread or fear
Their destined detrimental fate
Falsehood and lies inebriate
The ears when brains are kept sedate.”
Were all the above God-ordained tragedies? What could the Lebanese be waiting for? What God has written?
To be continued...
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