Let's Not Talk About The Middle East
If there is one subject I don't like to talk about, it's the Middle East. Just as I don't like to talk about it, I don't like to hear or read about it. Maybe because I was born in the region, people feel compelled to ask me questions about it. For me, there is no one who has the authority to talk about it, and I repeat, no one. It could be a Harvard scholar, it could be a world leader, it could be someone who spent their life poring over books on the subject, it doesn't matter, no one knows anything about it, and I think anyone who talks about it is cheeky, including, ironically, those who, like me, are from there.
I know it's hard not to get involved, not to get carried away by a subject that is actually as romantic as the essence of the word. We should treat the Middle East like we treat the planet Mars; a big enigma and nothing more. I can admit that the region has its own cuisine due to the nature of the region, that it has its own music, dance or architecture due to the inspiration that the same nature inspires, but I think that's it, nothing more. There isn't even a unique people for the region, with its own characteristics. Not even those we mistakenly call Arabs.
Who would know how to describe an Arab? He can be dark-skinned, blond-skinned, black, Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist, Maronite, spiritualist, evangelical or even atheist. Not everyone who is called Arab speaks the same language; each country in the region has its own language. An Arab is in fact someone I don't know. At most I can say that an Arab is a member of that species that appeared on Earth thousands of years ago, and is just an individual that carries some DNA traits similar to another.
There are so-called Arab countries on the African continent, and if science has indeed proven that the first man came from there, then this only reinforces the following theory: So far, any of us, including Saxons and Eskimos, can be Arabs. History has already proven that everyone who has tried to define something for the region, everyone who has tried to interfere, even with the best of intentions, has made very serious mistakes that are still felt today, since the beginning of time. We must simply accept that we know nothing, and that the region exists, the way it does, for some reason, that we should not and cannot know.
The world must move forward in parallel with the Middle East, finding economic and political sustainability without including the Middle East's problems in this process. Continuing to conjecture, will only lead humanity to deepen the abyss of the unknown and perpetuate conflicts generated by the lack of answers. The more we turn our attention to Middle Eastern affairs, the more we will hinder the natural progression of history; the more we wish to fix something that is beyond our reach, the more we will mess things up.
Labeling the region or those who live there is inappropriate, simplistic and disrespectful, because we will be labeling the man himself! What capacity do we have for that? And then comes that question that kills me: "But what about wars and terrorism?" I don't know. That's how it is. It's like someone asking me why students massacre their classmates at school; I honestly don't know. The only thing I know is that I'm not a terrorist, but I'm proud to be from the Middle East. And who knows, maybe one day I'll tell you the extent of this unhealthy passion...
Do you understand? An unhealthy passion...it's better to leave it alone.
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