Wednesday 21 February 2007

On Being Jordanian

I've thought about this post many times, I was encouraged by many observations I had as I hopped between blogs, reading posts and comments on related issues.

When I think about Jordan, I think about my family, my friends, people who made homes of my heart, places where I grew up, my first breathe, my first steps, the school I attended, teachers who shaped my personality.

Jordan is where people celebrate Christmas and Fitr, Easter and Adha, where churches and mosques share walls..as they share lives..it's where the blessings of Jesus and Muhammad reside.

Being Jordanian is being noble and tough like the desert of Rum, kind and generous like the villages on both sides of the Holy Jordan, being Jordanian is having the chivalry of the Caucasus, the resolute will of living inherited through the bloodline of Armenia, being Jordanian is having the Southern wind hailing from Hijaz fill your being with blessed breezes from Mecca, its the beauty and delicacy of the vineyards of Damascus, the divinity and defiance of Jerusalem, it's the pure untainted pride of the Cedar.

Jordan is where good people are, plain..and simple.

32 comments:

  1. It's where you can have it all in the same family.. a Jordanian mom, a Palestinian dad, a Circassian grandma, mixed together.. living happily and peacefully with no descrimination whatsoever!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Wish more people will see it like that, unfortunately that is not the case always ...

    I love Jordan, I hope I never have to live any place else...and I have seen my fair share of places

    ReplyDelete
  3. ae 3ini .. ea 3ini..

    I lllllllllove this post.. :D

    I always say that no matter where I end up.. I will always come back to the place I grew up in and loved the most.. Jordan

    ReplyDelete
  4. There is nothing,absolutely nothing like home..I have wrote something about being "homesick" and saved it..being Lebanese and missing home or writing something nice about it at this time sound crazy to a lot of people..

    Now, "home" to me is where mom and my brother are or will be..

    I truly admire the way you open up and share with us your feelings.
    Thank u for the instructions about editing html.

    ReplyDelete
  5. are u talking about the border lines that the British army drew for us?!!! niiiice

    ReplyDelete
  6. See Mariam since your comment is cynical..my response will be cynical as well.

    Yes Mariam, every inch of those lines, including Winston's Hiccup.

    Look that one up.

    ReplyDelete
  7. too bad for u my question was NOT cynical at all! i really meant it, wanted u to sink a bit thinking about it... and all i get is ... hooof, echos!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Yeah well..echos you got, but I don't see the point of the remark.

    So the british drew the borders..true! no one denies it, but 90 years on..it's a country, where people are living way better than in any of the people living on the other sides of the british/french drawn borders, which is an acomplishment in itself!

    (Echo)

    ReplyDelete
  9. Being Jordanian is being proud of having a peaceful country, and knowing that while living outside the country you know that your family are safe.

    ReplyDelete
  10. sometimes i like jordan..other times i want to ask you: are you sure??

    ReplyDelete
  11. are we truly way better? or is this your emotions talking? because i TOO want it to be so, but its not... as for 90 years later it is a country, why do we allow ourselves to be FOOLED like that? our enemies are watching and laughing! if somebody forced a border line on you, i understand that we have to accept it one day just to move on, but to glorfiy it is simply utterly dumb and ignorant, especially that we are way down the scale of "civilized world" ya3ni law bne3raf nesna3 sayyara ma baz3al, bass hell we are INEPT! CORRUPT! and above of all, IGNORANT! loving ones land is great, it is required to make it better, but you should call things by their name, because no matter how far u go down the wrong road, u must return! Amman should be the source of loyalty of its inhabitants, but wake up, those 21 countries were made just to humiliate us, to make us believe that we are competing, and if we are "way better than our neighbors" then its an "acheivement" when what we should be concerned about is why our neighbors not as good as we are! lets quit the ugly spoon-fed parade, and start calling things by ther names... el mathal begool: "okeltoo yawma ukela al thawr al abyad" and we had just handed in four of our brothers to be eaten... (jerusalem, baghdad, beirut and Mogadishu)

    ReplyDelete
  12. Maryam,
    I admire your enthusiasm, but let me tell you something, and I'm gonna be as brief as possible here because I really am sick of going on and on and on about this, I'm 31..I don't know how old you are, but I claim to have more time to think about this than you, we all have aspirations of unity and victory over our enemies and so on and so forth with the nationalistic mottos, but when it gets down to the avarage day man,

    what matters is this:

    Am I safe? is my family safe? can I feed them? can I pay my bills.

    No country is perfect, I know that very well, and I know that we have many shortcommings and poverty and social injustices, but when you want to weigh things..you compare them to similar things elsewhere, look around you, and compare, you might be in university..look at people your age around the great area of ours..how many people can go to college, how many can finish college and not be killed, kidnapped, or forced to sit at home because of a danger of some sort, how many people your age have libirties like yours..if you were in our northern neightbour's territory..would you be able to say this and come back to defend your view? if you were in our southern neightbour's territory..would you be able to do anything without a "man"? if you were to the east, would you be safe to go out the door? if you were to the west, would you be defending your brother from your cousin's bullets? as they both are hunted from the air by their and your..and my enemy?

    Think about what you have, and make a judgement, a sane judegement, and leave the rosey dreams of unity and victory for another time, I will join you when the time for those comes, until then, be grateful for the blessings of God.

    ReplyDelete
  13. 3ala 3ienee w rasee ammar, i want too a life that supplies food to my table, but there are two points, one -in summary- can u imagine if Einstien was content with the salary he received? Likolin content with having set his slaves free? or Prophet Mohammed content with sending the message out? you aim high, always... besides, we cant just hope that things might get better and ask for the minimum, thats cowardish! why wouldnt we want more?! el 7amdolla we have a good life, but el 7amdolla 3ala KOLLI 7al... even in iraq.
    the second point, the environment u have described is TERROR FROM ALL SIDES! what makes u believe its not gonna hit us? oh yes it will, this state of numbness in Amman amazes me, we are becoming the people that eat shit and stay shut! as a matter of fact it is getting worse every day, more poor people, less security, less justice, less freedom, and one day, if we keep this mind of ours of "looking at things from a very very narrow angle" we will end up un able to provide ourselves with food... lets ask our neighbors, see what they think about your statement? bet u all of them are sedated pretty much the same way! i hate mottos too, i dont participate in most activities where ppl shout mottos, thats why i hate your mottos as well, i beleive in action, no matter how little... so you too leave your rosey very unreal dream, cos the four terrors around u are partially your mistake... enna allaha layoghayyeroo ma fee qawmen...etc. at least if u would like to be content with the food on ur table, please dont glorify slavory like that!

    and by the way, im 30, got my share of thinking it up towards the edge of creating myself a Generalized Anxiety Disorder! and i am thinking three times before posting, bass la ja3al 7ada 7awwash!

    ReplyDelete
  14. First of all, its إن الله لا يغيّر ما بقوم

    Second of all, we can keep ping ponging on this forever, but what I dont like is the attempt to make me look chauvinistic and narrow minded, some might think so, some might not, but people can think what they like, I express my gratitude to the land that made me what I am, the people of which I'm part, this is not a phd thesis on the socio/economic effects of colonialism in the 21st century, this is a peice from the heart, it has nothing to do with politics, economics, philosophy or fortune telling.

    This is the story of Jordan as I see it, its my right to see it the way I like, on my blog, and its your right to think what you like of it, but don't preach people on how they should feel, how to act and what to think.

    As for my rosey dreams, well they're mine! you can have yours, but do your part, and let the others do theirs, but in all fairness, you can never not eat, because your neighbor is hungry..you take care of yourself, and try to help,Jordan has done that, despite all odds.

    Be Grateful for what you have, help your neighbor, but you know that you won't go starving in protest of your neighbor's need for bread, that's against human nature.

    I will defend my point as long as
    it takes, not because I think I'm right, its becuase I feel it's the least I can do.

    ReplyDelete
  15. I totally agree with you Ammar. What I give to have a Lebanon with any problem you can think of in return of just knowing that my family is safe...and what they will give to be in Amman enjoying peace and stability.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Noura,
    Lebanon taught us all how to love our land, how to be proud and tolerent, strong with our weakness, powerful with our intellect, if I weren't Jordanian I would've wanted to be lebanese, I wish people there would stop and look around them for a minute, its themselves and their dreams that are being destroyed.

    I Love Lebanon!

    ReplyDelete
  17. my brain is exploding, my heart is aching, and my fingers are shivering, i still have SO MUCH TO SAY! and u block me by saying: dont like to preach?!?! so i will just leave it at that :( because i was hoping u could be selfless in telling me where i went wrong, but anyway its not the first time i get blocked, u all raise this flag of: let me sleep and poke somebody else! :'( i dont see why we shouldnt preach each other and tell each other how we should feel!! bass fine... i quit

    ReplyDelete
  18. Listen Maryam,
    Don't play the role of the innocent victim whose being slaughtered on the ulter of intellectual dictatorship,please spare me the drama, I can go watch Les Mesirables for that, you can say what you want, when you want, no one stops you..dont preach..yes, because speaking about God and prophets and leaders who weren't silent in the face of discouragement makes you a preacher who's seeking people's attention through examples of greatness.

    Don't preach..ACT! and please let us do what we like, for the one hundredth time you fail to get my point, THIS POST IS MINE, MY VIEWS..MY THOUGHTS, IT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH THE POLITICS OF JUSTICE OVER TYRANY! ITS A PIECE OF LITTERATURE, YOUR POINT IS VERY CLEAR..I THANK YOU!

    ReplyDelete
  19. Dima(an oriental blog)22 February 2007 at 23:40

    You made me feel like hugging Jordan.. to bad it's not physically possible

    ReplyDelete
  20. Hey Dima, long time no read!

    Good..so I guess you chose to Feel then..hug anyone there, that would do!

    ReplyDelete
  21. Hey Ammar,
    You echo my thoughts, I miss Jordan especially the poeple because you can find all the other stuff anywhere.

    By the way, vote for your favourite Jordanian here http://7aki-fadi.blogspot.com/2007/02/nominate-best-five-jordanians.html

    ReplyDelete
  22. Hey 7aki Fadi,
    Thanks, I will vote in a minute.

    ReplyDelete
  23. Thanks a lot for voting.

    Stay tuned for the results

    ReplyDelete
  24. Oh my god...

    I came here in the morning.. and your blog wasnt here. :(

    Or emken ana kont 3am bat5ayal

    I dont know.. but I thought something happened to your blog :D silly me... welcom back :)

    ReplyDelete
  25. lol, no as far as I know my blog is here, thanks for the "loyalty"!

    ReplyDelete
  26. :shy: always... I love your blog.. but I swear something wierd happened... But I will take that as
    اضغاث احلام :) مجرد كابوس

    ReplyDelete
  27. Ammar,
    It seems you got yourself a large following..Lucky you:P
    "life" has left me a note saying that your blog might have disappeared but it seems you are well but were in hiding..

    I hope you are working on something big..

    ReplyDelete
  28. Noura,
    lol well thank you for that, I've been busy with alot of work the past week or so, still am actually, so working on something big is the right way to put it, but hopefully I'll have a new post soon.

    Thanks, I'm enjoying reading the posts you guys are writing, so keep it up!

    ReplyDelete