Only one bullet remains in the gun. There can be no escaping the final shot. The farewell better be fitting. It must be as hopeful and joyful as possible.
You are not a businessman, whose notes you can rummage through in search of a lost opportunity or wasted deal. You are not a politician, who through his honeyed tongue aims for high positions and eliminating rivals. You are an Arab journalist residing in the Middle East trap. Your notes are weighed down with calamities.
I follow a routine at the end of every year. I seek out our elders to express gratitude, pay respect and derive strength to keep going. So, I seek out the nearest library – the museum of dreams.
I am very aware of what the children of the media and technological revolution have to say. That libraries will die like old grocery shops and traditional markets. Your new library now resides in your device. You can summon these treasures with the press of a button.
I sometimes don’t hesitate to join this new dance, but I believe that a visit to a library recharges one’s batteries and helps one in confronting the days to come. The library is our tribe, school and university. Its shelves are open to anyone who revels in secrets and making new discoveries.
I am intrigued by people who have spent their lives gambling in the gushing river of life. Who have gambled on offering more, laying traps, pursuing dreams or exposing a farce. These people have lit the way for others.
I love the stories of those who invented illusions that have withstood the test of time. People who launched ideas that rattled centuries or societies. People who sparked revolutions or exposed their slogans. I love the fighters who responded to a crushing blow with a more powerful one. These people have kept their places on the shelves, while others, who falsely believed themselves to be infallible and immortal, have fallen off.
I enjoy the diversity found at libraries. One reader wants to learn more about Henry Kissinger, who for a century decided fates and made justifications. Another wanted to learn more about Vladimir Putin, who is preparing to celebrate a new year of success in his revenge against those who assassinated the Soviet Union. Another wants to learn more about the ticking timebomb called Kim Jong Un. Another is being eaten up by concern over climate change and wants to know more about it.
Libraries are gardens that sleep on treasures, flowers and poisons. Another reader wants to learn more about Al-Mutanabbi and “Kalila and Demna”. I like watching the reader who gets lost among the great classic novels and modern ones, which are seeking to capture the rapid changes, major collapses and shifting fates.
I like watching the confused youths as they browse books about technology and artificial intelligence, which will create successive revolutions in health, education, industry and wars. I do grow a bit scared when I hear that robots will defeat their makers and that devices will one day acquire the massive ability to produce writings that would make Shakespeare, Dostoevsky, Flaubert and others green with envy.
A library visit is warmer than a visit to a museum. You sense that some authors dealt death phrases that never die. They stabbed the dark with torches and championed human dignity and the sanctity of life. They dedicated their lives to their writing and to asking questions.
I got stuck in traffic on my way back to the hotel from the library. The city is full of tourists who have come to enjoy the pleasant weather in the coastal city. They came to cleanse their soul of the bruises of the outgoing year that is setting sail with no return. They have come to wash their memories of images of wars, coffins, earthquakes and the collapse of cities and currencies.
My driver thought he could relieve me of my boredom, so he asked me where I am from. I was wary of answering him. I worried he would ask me about who our president is. My country is bare without a president and continues its slide and suicide because of its corrupt and inept officials. I had no choice but to confess so I did. But I soon threw the question back at him and asked him where he was from. He said he was from India. I asked him about how his country was doing, and he surprised me with his hopeful response.
The driver said he was confident India was heading towards better days. He stressed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will win the upcoming elections because the people sense that he will lead them towards the future after he implemented necessary reforms. He noted that Pakistan was wasting its days with disputes between the military and the people, while institutions were functioning normally in his country.
With a smile, he said the West’s fear of China prompted him to choose India as a better option, noting that investments have already started to flow there. He added that his country was ready to seize the opportunity given its human capital and advanced technology. He predicted that the economy will improve and poverty will drop, and that India will play a role the befits it.
He didn’t forget to criticize Rajiv Gandhi and others who sympathize with Russia given the long legacy of relations with the Soviet Union. Moreover, the driver said it won’t be long before he returns to his country because he is reassured over the future of his children and grandchildren.
I was pained by this last remark. I was assaulted by the images of the barbaric killings taking place in Gaza. I recalled the broken cities that I visited in pursuit of a story, interview or memories. I recalled Baghdad, Damascus, Sanaa, Khartoum, Tripoli, Beirut and others.
We die longing for an idea that would take us forward to join the current age. We don’t want to live in the tragedy of history. We want to shoot the last bullet at a year of oppression and darkness. The Arab has the right to dream of getting out of this long night.
The deadly year took its last breath. On behalf of my colleagues, I wish the readers of Asharq Al-Awsat a new year full of justice and progress that would close the chapter of an Arab world that several powers, near and far, are seeking to transform into an arena for their interests and greed instead of it being a natural player equal to others. I hope it is a year that would allow the Arab world to reconcile with itself and the world.
