Translation [Archives:2002/17/Last Page]

M Now tell me, Musida, did you go to the market to buy the chicken and vegetables for lunch, or did you go to check the state of the street and watch other people as they went about their business?
Ma I just went to buy the shopping. I havent any interest in other people, and they havent any interest in me. Dont go looking for things to complain about.
M But what I heard is quite amazing!
Ma Let us seek refuge in God from all the devils! What on earth is this that you heard?
M How can you let yourself talk about someone elses son?
Ma And just who is this someone elses son Ive been talking about?
M Your sons friend.
Ma Why should I want to talk about someone whos still got the mind of a child? What would make me want to talk about him? But Ill tell you what. When I came back from the market I found him waiting by the door in a Toyota land cruiser. He said he was waiting for my son.
M But Musida, how on earth did our son get to know someone with a Toyota land cruiser, when all his other friends have nothing but second-hand bicycles and torn boots?
Ma I was rather surprised too, when he opened the car door and came out wearing a pistol on his right hip, a pager on his left, with a mobile phone strung around his neck! The only thing missing was a lollypop stuck in his mouth then he would have had all the gadgets and appliances anyone could ask for!
M Look, thats nothing to do with us. Were not responsible for how other people behave or their stupidity, just get that into your head!
Ma However, I am responsible for my son. When I saw the pistol on the lads hip and a car that was bigger than him and more than he could manage, I was concerned about my son. Dont you know how dangerous guns and cars can be in the hands of adolescents, Musid?
M Of course I do! The one thing which worries people most is weapons, cars and satalite television in the hands of adolescent boys.
Ma Exactly! When I saw that boy with all those gadgets I reckoned I had the measure of him. I told him my son wasnt at home, hed gone to the village to buy things for his father. He asked me the name of our village, so I told him Bayt Alal. He then asked where Bayt Alal was, and I told him next to Bayt al-Rabui. He asked how long ago it was since he left. I told him about half an hour. Then he asked what hed gone to fetch, and I told him hed gone to fetch stalks and hay for the calf we were fattening for Id Arafah. Then he asked what hay was, and I said it was like popcorn. He said, When your son comes back, ask him to leave me some hay to try. I said Id leave him some hay and he could go and share it with the calf!
M Oh Musida! Why did you make fun of the poor boy like that! Youre normally so considerate! Its not right, and you know how you should behave!
Ma Oh yes! Now tell me who exactly is making fun of the lad, will you! Me who answers his questions, or his parents who obviously dont care less giving him a pistol and a car, both dangerous weapons and either of which could lead to certain death! Also, Im concerned about my son. He who gets near to the furnace will either get burnt or be covered in soot.1
M Weapons and cars in the hands of adolescents constitute a danger to society as a whole. As the proverb goes, Calamaties come at the end of the night.2
Ma It isnt calamities at the end of the night that bother me. May God protect us from all evil. Im talking to you about calamities which happen slap bang in the middle of the day! People in other countries, my dearest, make sure they provide their children as much learning and culture as possible, to open their minds and raise their sense of awareness, and to embed in them a sense of higher principles and values. We, on the other hand, provide our children with the means to kill and be killed. And we allow them to be ignorant, snobbish, conceited and reckless, and tell them they can have whatever they want. As the Yemeni proverb goes, Stupid people are contented, and a wayward child will cause you distress.
1 Yemeni proverb.
2 Yemeni proverb.

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