ne day, three words met: An Arabic word, a Hebrew word and an empty word.
“I’m an Arabic word” said the Arabic word. “I am the one who has recorded Arab history. I am the one who breathes motivation into the Arabs’ hearts when they chant me. I am a word living on the tongues of millions and hiding in their hearts. I sneaked out painfully from the lips of a dying Palestinian, and the poor guy could not release me into the air so I broke into pieces of blood and tears and the winds brought me here.”
“I am a Hebrew word,” said the Hebrew word. “I am the one through which the first holy books and values were delivered. I am the one who was filled with knowledge and wisdom. I am a word living in the hearts of millions and laying on their tongues. I was born slowly on the tip of the tongue of an Israeli woman who was crying for the dying Palestinian man and the poor woman could not send me to the rest of the world. I felt pale and small and tired while looking for someone to say me, so I left and that is how I arrived here.”
The empty word looked around and wondered in confusion: “But I do not know what I am or where I was or how I came here.”
“Come with me and become Arabic,” said the Arabic word with a smile. “Arabs like talking. Join me, and sadness and emotions will give you sense.”
“No, come with me and become Hebrew,” said the Hebrew word. “You will be heard by the whole world. Join me, and the listening ears will give you sense.”
The meaningless, empty word hesitated and did not know what to do. She could not understand the difference of their meanings nor the meaning of their differences.
The Arabic and Hebrew words continued to say that they were better than the other, and the disagreement became a violent fight that made them both lose their letters! Their meanings vaporized and the two words became….. empty!
The meaningless word left them, looking for a meaning. It found a deep, wide, pure sea. The sea was so deep that the meaningless word thought it was deeper than its own suffering; so wide that it thought it might contain all of its sadness; so pure that it thought it was colourless.
The sea was, however, full of words – words from all languages. The words were full of meanings and swam peacefully together, playing with letters while sharing sentences and senses. The sea looked full of meanings, dreams and happy moments. The words seemed valuable surfing on the surface of our reality. It looked beautiful so the empty word smiled and threw itself into the sea.
Samar Samir Mezghanni
*Translated from Arabic
