Hungry Lion / Lounging Heretic!

While the arrests continue apace in Syria, in an attempt to satisfy the insatiable the appetite of certain hungry lions, a heretic is lounging with his wife around a pool in their apartment community in Silver Spring, Maryland. At the end of the day, we all end pissing on holy grounds, I guess (But not in the pool, I assure you). The sacrosanct nature of human rights and individual liberties will continue to be violated while certain heretics will remain torn apart between the longing to be involved and the need to take some time out lest they lose their grip on sanity and become completely useless. So, the heretic took sometimes to relax today despite of it all, and he is not going to feel guilty about it, damn it!

But the conditions back home continue to sour by the hour, deteriorating from bad to ludicrous, while hopes are pinned on something that is not yet tangible.

We have our work cut out for us, I guess, and we have to be in it for the long haul. There are no quick fixes to our situation, even if the regime should fall tomorrow.

Fuck! I just realized that I am going to be doing this, whatever the hell it is, for the rest of my life. Man, I need to go to the pool more often otherwise I am not going to have the energy. Yes. Indeed. I am going to be the activist working and trying to change the world from the poolside. Why not? The poolside is as good a place as any.

Archimedes, my Mediterranean brother, here I come. Your footsteps are a perfect fit for me. I’ll be following them for the rest of my life.

To be honest though, I have been sort of following in Archemedes’ footsteps ever since my return to Syrian in September of 1994. Indeed, when I was a teacher, I used to prepare my students’ exams and then grade them while lounging by the poolside, and the inspiration of many of my literary works came to me while there.

It’s only in the last 2-3 years that I seem to have strayed from this most blessed of all paths. I am glad I might be finally returning to the straight and narrow. I can more be much more inspired this way, and this might make me a little inspiring as well. Indeed, if the next few years are to have any positive meaning, we all need to find ways to be both inspired and inspiring.