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55.1%ANMag Issue 17 Personal Maintenance
Cats, Parrots, and Jackals
By Rami Oueini, Staff writer
Beirut, Lebanon - Be it larger-than-life explosions all over the country, or heavily-packed cars awaiting the signal to blast by the side of the road, or dozens of bullets through the windows of a prominent political figure, or the violation of innocence in the illusion of just vengeance, the inhumane variations of mass crime are no longer strangers to our [Lebanese] daily life.
And still, we learn nothing… as though we have not gone through enough already; as if our childhood has not been complicated enough by the sounds of Civil War; as if our years of early teenage have not been stepped upon enough by the oppressive boots of foreign and domestic intelligence agents; as if our days of early adulthood have not been shaken enough by the scenes of mobile terrorism; as if we were not waiting for graduation in order to apply for a visa away from all this pandemonium; as if the wisdom of our leaders has not driven us into an unbreakable ring of tragedies.
Yet, what is even more tragic than this political terrorism are the colorful theories that start emerging from here and there, even before the dust settles on the crime scene. These theories are as mesmerizing in diversity as the criminal techniques they feed off. They are tragic in the measure that they go into your home, tickle your ears and mind, and strive to brainwash you with sophistic word games and impressive hand gestures. And so, you find yourself looking indifferently at Lebanese blood spilled on a sidewalk, and listening to some Jackals telling you what to think and how to feel. This is when you reach a very important crossroads in the journey of self-awareness: Are you a Cat, or a Parrot?
Are you a brainwashed parrot repeating what you heard the Jackals say, word-to-word with minor accent and volume changes? Or are you a rebelled cat strolling the streets, defying an imposed darkness with your illuminated eyes, searching for the truth?
Are you a parrot, trapped inside a cage, waiting to be fed, bathed, and played with? Or are you a cat defining your own boundaries, deciding for yourself if and when your freedom ceases?
The answer is far from easy, for it requires a certain level of subjective introspection, only a few have. Indeed, our human nature is very indulgent when it comes to analyzing and judging ourselves, especially when our ego joins the picture. This difficulty is accentuated by the fact that jackals know human nature very well, and make a living out of exploiting this natural human weakness. They do that by giving you - the undifferentiated faceless masses in their eyes - an illusion of omnipotence. "The change is in the people's hands. The youth took the decision and we followed…" Expert liars, these jackals! After all, their home is a lawless jungle and their game is called "the art of lying". Actually, this whole fatal viscous cycle is in no way the jackals' fault; it is rather the fault of the parrots sitting at home, convincing themselves that they have done their country great service by watching a single-party channel, by taking what they heard on it as undeniable truth, and by convincing themselves they are only safe as long as they repeat after the jackals.
However, make no mistake about it; parrots have dreams and social reform aspirations as luminescent as those of cats. The main difference is that parrots go about making their dreams come true by blindly following in the footsteps of jackals who know very well how to hide their sharp teeth and convey an air of fatherhood. Meanwhile, cats think outside the box and realize that the healthiest way to make their dreams a reality is the scientific path of questioning everything and everyone, and taking nothing for granted. This scientific path leads the cats to ask themselves pertinent questions before doing any parrot-like action.
For example, before applauding a cunning jackal, cats stop to ask themselves, "Would this jackal applaud me if I go up that stage and speak my mind? NO!” They also ask themselves, before cheering and chanting with the crowd, "Would these words I'm hearing be the words coming out of my mouth if the places were switched? NO!" And they ask themselves before putting up a jackal's poster above their bed, "Does this jackal also go to bed with my photo next to him? NO!" They finally ask themselves, before waving some party's banner, "Do I prefer this banner to the Lebanese flag? NO!"
So we are cats and parrots, and they are jackals. Some prefer to be cats; others prefer to be parrots, while the rest do not care (these are silent parrots). Nevertheless, whatever you choose or turn out to be, some facts remain universal:
- Parrots are birds. They have wings, but cannot fly.
- Curiosity killed the cat, but at least, it did not spend its lifetime in a cage.
Choose carefully, for the destiny of this country is being decided today by you, and not by the Jackals.