The Devil vs. The Old Lady

Today over lunch at my father’s house, we discussed the tragedy that happened in Jahra last Saturday evening. I simply love talking to my dad when it comes to events and the ‘religious fables’ he seamlessly ties into each and every incident.

At one point during the conversation, I interested him with a quote by William Congreave and it goes as, “Heaven has no rage like love to hatred turned | Nor hell a fury like a woman scorned.”

He delighted in that quote and went on to tell me this following story:

Once upon a time, there was a small town in Arabia. This town is known not to have any police, simply the town is run by its own people and its Mayor. So one day Satan came upon a hill overlooking the town and he saw an old lady sitting on the same hill. Satan tells the old lady, “Woman, I will go down to the town and cause strife and sorrow! Watch me!”

The old lady replies blandly, “Sure, go on ahead.” Satan was amused by the old lady’s lack of interest and asked her, “Do you know who I am? I am The Devil himself! I am Satan! I can cause strife and sorrow wherever I go!”

Yet, the old lady responds to Satan, “Fine, go on ahead I’ll watch.”

Disgruntled, Satan goes down to the town and try as he might he couldn’t pit brother against brother. Nor could he pit friends against friends, fathers against sons. And so on, frustrated he goes back up to the hill and told the old lady, “What is this town? I am THE Devil! I cannot believe this!”

Slowly the old lady gets herself up off the ground and tells Satan, “I will go down there and cause strife and ruin. You just stay put and watch me.” The old lady goes down to the Mayor’s house and knocks on the door. Moments later the Mayor’s wife opened the door and puzzled asked the old lady, “Who are you?”

Old lady exclaims, “I am the Mayor’s aunt! He didn’t tell you I’m arriving?!”

Mayor’s wife even more perplexed, “But my husband never mentioned having an aunt! I’m sorry but he is not home so I cannot let you in!”

The old lady wouldn’t have any of that she pushed her way into the house and exclaimed, “I came many miles across the desert and this is the treatment I deserve from my nephew’s wife? Where is the lunch, woman? I am hungry!”

Mayor’s wife lowers her head sadly and mutters, “But I cannot serve lunch, my husband isn’t home yet! I’m not used to having lunch without him!”

“Gah! Run along and serve lunch now, woman!” The old lady says, “When he sees us he may join us! Let’s eat!”

So the Mayor’s wife serves lunch in the customary single large round tray and the women sit down to eat. The old lady carefully scoops a bite with her hand from directly in front of her and scoops another bite from directly to the right of her, while the Mayor’s wife scoops her bite out from across the old lady in the tray.

The Mayor arrives and irritated at the scene he sees, asks his wife, “Why are you having lunch without me?! And who is this old woman?”

So his wife responds, “She is your aunt!”

Old lady eyes the mayor and asks, “Who are you? If you are her husband then who was the man that was sitting here with us?!” And she points at the part where a third scoop of food has gone missing from the tray (remember she did that?).

The Mayor in a rage kills his wife for cheating on him. As events unfolded, the Mayor’s wife’s family ask for revenge and eventually the entire town turned into a tribal bloodbath.

The old lady seeing that she has successfully pitted everyone against one another, she sneaked back up the hill and smirked at the baffled Devil. And she says, “It takes a woman to teach you a trick or two ‘O Satan!”

The fable as my father mentioned is one of many fables he loves to tell us at every occasion.

So what is the moral of the story? Let’s see what you may have to say.

Nineteen Years Ago

Nineteen years ago, I remember waking up in the morning to my older brother’s violent shaking, “Rashed, we’re at war!” At first it didn’t register, I clearly remember my first words were a sleepy, “Oh, cool!”. Seven months later those two simple words were what I regret the most.

Then I saw my mother, ragged and panicky she looked like she didn’t sleep. Her eyes were bloodshot and the radio was blaring with patriotic songs and people screaming, “Fight! Fight for Allah, Our Land and the Amir!”. Oh how clear I remember these broadcasts.

It was yesterday when I was suddenly thrown off my feet at the sudden bombardment of the Ahmadi petroleum gathering tanks, I was about 5 miles away. The screams of my family, the panic and the crying of the women-folk. I still remember huddling in a small room, our building vibrating the windows rattling almost all night at the fierce battle that raged around Bayan Palace. The sporadic rattling of the machine guns, the deafening blasts of the artillery.

I remember waking up on August 3rd, 1990…to complete silence. Kuwait as a nation has taken its last collective gasp and died under the violent assault of the gigantic Iraqi war machine.

Nineteen years ago, the entire nation of Kuwait has collapsed. Families torn apart, some forever lost. To most of us, we still remember and ache deep down inside. Most of us still pray for the loved ones we have lost and will never see again. Those that have bravely fought and the innocents who were just at the wrong place at the wrong time.

That was nineteen years ago when my generation lost a greater part of our teenage years. From innocent childhood instantly transformed into adults. You gaze into our eyes, you can see something lurking in there. Things we have seen that our parents have wasted a lifetime to shelter us from. The horrors, the atrocities and the deep, deep sense of loss. We are forever marked.

Yet, that was nineteen years ago. For how long will we cower? How long will we smile and shake our heads and simply ignore the greater picture of life? Kuwait has been ravaged by wars both on its borders and in its own lands. She has fought to survive like a David stuck between not one Goliath, but three of them. And as always, we have always come out of these wars shaken and battered. It’s time to move on, only we can make her survive with our own strength.

I have seen with my own eyes what our generation are capable of. What the younger generations may do. Enough with the corruption, enough with the hide-and-seek game. Get rid of your milk teeth and grow proper fangs to bite when bitten. For how long will we ‘negotiate’ with Iraq? For how long will we always be the ‘younger sister’ to Saudi Arabia, pushed and shoved in whichever direction they please?

How long will we keep reading the same news over and over again about how irreversibly corrupt our government has become?

Nineteen years ago we have become a lost cause? A hopeless case?

My final question to you:

Did you sell Kuwait’s soul to the devil nineteen years ago?

The Missing Sense

As most of my friends on here know already, I’ve been born hard of hearing. Back then my condition was mild but steadily progressed to what they call severe to profound hearing loss. Not that I’m sad about it, hell..I find it useful sometimes, not hearing what I don’t want to hear!

Then again, one must follow all the latest health & technology news for things that must benefit them, right? This is what I’ve been doing almost my entire life, steadily eating up ANY medical journal related to hearing loss, news and even hoaxes. I’ve built up quite a knowledgeable library in my head regarding my hearing loss.

Interestingly I’m one of the people who steadily lose their hearing as they grow older. And to say it in plain english, I’m already technically deaf in both ears. But thanks to modern technology, I can hear alright with hearing aids, but I know the day will come when they won’t be of much use anymore. Such as the one plugged into my right ear right now, I can barely recognize sounds unless they’re pretty loud.

During the course of my life I’ve met my fair share of people with the same problem, ranging from tiny 2 year old children to aging adults. And in meeting them I’ve become aware of how ‘different’ they are…well how different WE are. And all that I have met, I’ve supported and advised them on how to better their lives.

I’ve always been asked, “Rashed, how do you do it? You’re happy!” And I respond by flashing my electric blue hearing aids at them with a smile, “I make it a statement, I’m deaf and proud. Not dead and decayed!”

Cashiers, children, grandmothers, anxious parents of deaf children…the list goes on. It may be hard but it’s not impossible.
I’m writing this because of a long conversation I’ve had with a friend recently. The question I was asked, “Do you feel that you are missing something in your life? Because of your hearing?”

I responded, “No I don’t. I’m happy with the way I am. You are near-sighted, I am hard of hearing. Where’s the issue here?”

And I was asked, “Are you afraid of the permanent silence around you?”

I responded, “At least if there’s a ticking bomb behind me, I won’t know what hit me. So I won’t have time to be afraid. We’re all afraid of something: darkness, closed spaces, heights and so on. Yet these fears are based on trauma, psychological incidents that have affected us. In my case, I was BORN this way, so I consider it ‘normal’ to me, a way of life. I’ve found ways to actually bypass the hearing problem by using my other four senses.”

Again, “How did you bypass it?”

And I responded, “If I can’t hear it, I can feel it. I can see it. I can visualize sound because I’ve heard it before. I know it sounds like I’m crazy. But sometimes I place my hand on an object, feel it vibrate and I can imagine how it sounds like. A car engine, speakers, blender and so on. I can feel music, just like how Beethoven did. You have Robert Franz and William Boyce, to name a few. They are ALL great musicians of their time. Nothing stopped them. So nothing will stop me from wanting to ‘hear’ something one way or another. Our other senses are enhanced, as we all say: God taketh and giveth in return. How does a blind man ’see’? How did Steven Hawkings become such a spectacular inspiration? And most of all, MY inspiration: Helen Keller? Our lives are full of color that we can see, scents that we can smell and it is SO vibrant that every molecule in our bodies can feel! I know you can’t visualize this in your head, but I wish you can be in my shoes for only 5 minutes. Go to a mall, a park or anywhere you will be overwhelmed by the sheer tsunami of feelings that your other four senses can pick up out there. It is a natural high for us if you want to call it that. It is pure bliss!”

This conversation lasted for over 4 hours and with each answer I gave, my friend looked at his deaf son with different look in his eyes, a look I saw for the first time ever since his son was born and the doctor delivered the bad news…I saw hope shining in them.

To conclude this, I have been introduced to Helen Keller when I was very young. She is my inspiration and I grew up always remembering the impact she has had on millions of people like herself. And as I grew older, those who I love, my family and friends have inspired me throughout life.

Nothing is impossible my dear friends.

“The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched. They must be felt within the heart.” ~ Helen Keller

The 99 Saves the World: Islamic Style!

After a particularly sleepless night, I decided to browse through the BBC News website for anything of interest and actually came across a pretty interesting article. After reading the article thoroughly, I must admit that I’m pretty impressed! Read the article here: The 99 News

Let me explain in short: The 99 is a comic book created by a Kuwaiti psychologist Dr. Naif Al-Mutawa. He has based the superheroes in the comic book – inspired by the Quran – based on the 99 attributes of Allah.

Myself, I was an avid comic book collector. And The 99 sure spread like wildfire all over the world. I browsed to The 99’s website, only to be surprised that they are actually teaming up with none but the best of the best: The Justice League of America: Superman, Batman, the Flash and a bunch of others! Not to mention that the comic books are actually written by the same people who wrote the X-Men and many other comic books! One word: WOW.

Read more about The 99 here: The 99

I must say Dr. Mutawa, I wish I hadn’t walked past your booth at the last P2BK exhibition. From one Kuwaiti AND Muslim to another: I’m proud

(Come to think of it, I’ve been complaining all week of the lack of creativity in Kuwait, the Doc sure surprised me!)

Mapping the Arabic Blogosphere

I came across an interesting case study conducted at Harvard University, where a ‘map’ of the Arab blogs has been created & discussed. For those of you who are interested whether our blogs actually count, then you definitely need to read the publication linked below. Also the map is linked and is very interesting.

Read the case study here: Mapping the Arabic Blogosphere

And check out the map here: Arabic Blogosphere Map