Friendship: A real divine gift [Archives:2009/1227/Community]

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January 22 2009

By: Ammar AL-Hawi
[email protected]

I really do miss you all, dear countrymen. I miss my family, my friends, and my students so much. My mind is overcrowded with my unforgettable memories with all of them in the land of brotherhood and friendship; my heart is throbbing with feelings of their love and gratitude; my eyes are filled up with sad tears for being soon separated from them ; my ears are obsessed with the echoes of their words; my tongue is silenced by their compassion and kindness; my hands are addicted to writing volumes of memorials about our togetherness in the castle of knowledge; my feet are exhausted by aimlessly snuggling into the desert of loneliness without their company — all my body is always dying to its lost part in you!!!

I wish I could have wings to fly over to Taiz, have a long look at all of my dear friends, and then come back to my lonely dwelling in the U.S. I wish I had the magic carpet to take me over to the place where I really belong to. I wish I could open my eyes once in the early morning to find myself in the place where I long used to be. Wishes are scattering down into my thought, nurturing the innocence of my imagination and provoking the muse of sensation to crump along in the silence of my selfhood. I would keep on wishing and wishing however long that would take me. I would stipple my wish in the silky light of the early rising sun, weave it in the brightness of the half-moony sky, inscribe it in the depth of my words, and enliven it with my hopefulness.

Once I felt quite homesick. I had none to relieve my loneliness. Suddenly, something from a far distant place flashed on the horizon, evoking some relief inside my aching soul. It was the vision of my experience as a teaching assistant in Taiz University. I smiled with delight at the sight of many of my dear students, sitting on the armchairs before me and lending the place some kind of vitality with vigor with their attendance. The place was the same all over; it was the classroom that gathered us all long ago. Boys and girls with different faces and different names shared oneness with their teacher under the roof of knowledge and illumination. There came the pioneers of knowledge — our respected professors and doctors — following one another in lines. Their presence made me feel more and more comfortable. With books in their hands, they began telling us stories about the meaning of our life, lecturing us on the values of learning, inspiring us with their determination and good will, and above all passing over to us the clues to success. We listened carefully to their own whispers of wisdom and enjoyed looking with wonder and appreciation at them.

Time passed by very quickly. I did not want to leave them but I had nothing to do. Had I had the ability to prolong the time of our coming together, I would have done it soon and without any hesitation. The vision gradually began to vanish away. How painful it is to bid them goodbye! I kept on watching the vision till it became almost invisible. I could not stand keeping silent any longer. I loudly shouted to them in order to wait for me but it seemed as if no one were hearing me! I screamed and screamed but all in vain. Nothing more than scary echoes got back into my ears! I threw my face between my weak knees and went in deep cry. I cried hot tears till I suddenly woke up to discover that all was but a dream!!! Some may call it a nightmare but for me it was the sweetest dream I have ever had in my life.
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