Month: October 2024

The Gazette informed us that a “Concordia student… spoke of the merits of martyrdom to the crowd at the vigil for Lebanon” (https://tinyurl.com/mr32zvcc; https://tinyurl.com/5dbu7hry).

This young activist is free to think and also say whatever he wishes, of course (same for different opinions or no opinion). Bambi defends his right to freedom of expression. However, she would like to reply to him in this post, if she may.

If there is one word that she dislikes, and cannot stand anymore, in the Arabic language, it is actually the overused term martyr (or shaheed). Here is why: Innocent people of the Middle East (in all its beautiful countries, including both Palestine and now Lebanon) do no want to be “Shouhada” (martyrs). They want to live rather. They are struggling to survive this absurd war. So, please stop and think before educating your fellow Canadians about the value of death through this concept.

As an alternative, how about telling them about the will to simply live (ideally in dignity), to be safe, to dream of solutions, peace, and prosperity for a change? To live and be able to go to school, to innovate, to earn a living, to spread compassion and love around them and to the world, by extension?

If some want to die as “martyrs”, it is their own choice. They must not impose it on others who do not want to be caught in the middle of the shelling between Israel and the other fighters (Hezbollah, Hamas, and their Islamist sister organizations). For those specifically, your explanation of martyrdom applies well, especially from their point of view: “Martyrdom, to be killed fighting for a cause greater than yourself, is the most honourable thing you can do, and this is in itself is a victory“.

To say things more bluntly, if anyone from Bambi’s circle of dad, family, and friends die in this conflict, she refuses to call them martyrs. She will call them victims like the innocent people of Israel, Palestine, Lebanon, Syria, Iran, Yemen, Irak, Saudi Arabia, Gulf countries, and… by extension the entire world where there are wars, including but not limited to Ukraine, Russia, Armenia, etc. Enough of violence and stop to the culture of death, please.

When Bambi was about 8 year-old, growing up in the middle of civil war in the so-called former “East Beirut“, the shelling hit a nearby school. Her dear cousin was badly injured among many other young friends. Thank Goodness he survived. His only peer who died happened to be Muslim, ironically…. with a bomb coming from the former “West side of Beirut“, predominantly (but not only) Muslim. Do you see the irony?

The tragic story shared above is not surprising given that bombs (or violence) do not differentiate between people’s characteristics such as ethnolinguistic background, age, sex/gender, religion, sexual orientation, height, weight, political affiliation, etc. The latter was one of Bambi’s lessons from the school of life, especially in times of armed conflicts.

However, the Mollahs of Iran, blinded by hate or excited by their nuclear adventure, do not seem to see the irony of their escalating action of yesterday (about 200 ballistic missiles targeting Israel), which resulted in the death of a Palestinian man. May his memory be eternal (https://tinyurl.com/3kaa72vy).

In the same vein, the second irony is Hamas that “praises ‘heroic’ missile attacks launched by Iran” (https://tinyurl.com/ycaswhba) and who cares about the poor Gazan who lost his life?

When will the bloody nightmare of revenge and hate end in the Middle East? When will we will find a solution to this absurd conflict that is burning Lebanon, so peace can finally prevail there and across all the nations? And what about compassion, especially in “spiritual men”?

This morning, Bambi started the day with news of shelling in Beirut, perhaps five-seven minutes away from her dad’s place. She rushed to the phone to call and check on him.

Now, at the end of the same day, she is hearing yet other worrisome escalating news from the Middle East. This time about missiles from Iran toward Israel. Who pays the price of any conflict? As usual, innocent people on all sides. Make no mistake about it.

May God/G-d/Allah of love have mercy on everyone. May God know how to protect the aching and apparently sinking boat of Lebanon with ALL its innocent people, along with those who have played with the fire.

Even if her mind, soul, and heart are with the people of her birth country as well as with her family and friends there, Bambi’s heart has enough room to also feel for all those suffering from this insanity. This includes the innocent people of both Israel as well as Palestine, the people of Syria as well as those in Iran (minus their unwise and illuminated Mollahs), those of the entire Middle East, and the whole world.

Enough of cruelty toward innocent people. Enough of playing with their lives and sanity.