I am in in love again. I am in love with a culture and a country in the epicenter of humanity, even though we have just met. I am in love with the linguistics and اللغة of The Middle East. I sense something so familiar even though I couldn't be farther from home.
The tip of my tongue has tasted the sweetness of the sounds of which my ears hear when the words stutter off. Those who know me well can confirm my love for sweets.
I don't even know how it happened so quickly. One month is barely long enough for some mail to land in a loved one's hands, yet I've managed to fall like an autumn leaf and land on top of a city made of mounds of buildings instead.
Not many will find the beauty in concrete and even I had my doubts, yet when each single room lights up at night like a spec of glitter in the sky, and the sounds of the city include calls to prayer and traveling propane salesmen alike, the alluring distance from home is as clear as the stark blue sky.
There is always something more. Sometimes feelings of diffidence and humility overcome feelings of love and familiarity... Who am I to dip my toes into the Sea of Galilee? Who am I to taste the treats and the sweets belonging to a land so ancient, foreign and grand? Who am I to choose to partake in a civilization too many are forced to forsake; and what's more, even seek to explore my very own "freedom land" soil.
Who are we to wish to test our buoyancy in the deepest depth on Earth, the Dead Sea, when too many families are forced to flee. It is the inequity and absence of basic rights and human needs; the inequality which sickens me.
I am only slightly sure about what to do and what to say in order to make the world today operate in a better way.
All I know is that making friends on opposite ends of the entire world may spread peace, evoke happiness, teach a moral, share a morsel of food for thought, and at the end of the day, translate into a universal language- even if all you can speak is a smile. :)
