Sudden Reality

Amidst the summer of 2009 I was awarded a trip to Jordan for my high school graduation. By that time, I knew everything about the Hashemite Kingdom as I always wanted to visit the Dead Sea, Jordan River and the Nabataean city of Petra to discover what lies beyond medical mud, Biblical stories and tribal history. While on the road I started having Goose bumps on the first few sights of Petra that the bus overlooked. After a jarring ride downhill I decided to take the horse to get to the old city gate known as “Al-Khazna”. “What’s her name?” I asked the wrinkled owner about the horse, “Shahd” he answered, and that is where my journey began.
At that moment I was a kid wanting to brag about how much I knew about a foreign landmark, so I started tossing significant facts and remarkable dates about Petra to Shahd and her owner but surprisingly neither of them was fascinated like I was and I could not find the sense of pride I assumed they should have towards being a native to such a place! Bluntly enough, I revealed my thoughts to the heavily-tanned, gypsy-looking man, who hardly replied: “My son, here they treat horses and camels better than us, we are very insignificant to care about!”
“Where are you from?” he asked
“Beirut” I replied
“Allah Allah! Beirut, good old days; I worked in Beirut for 15 years! I jogged every morning at 5:00 am on the “Conrniche” before going to work at the Modca Café, you must know it for sure. Allah! Beautiful Beirut” he said
I left with an impression that a man who belongs to a prime destination voted as a new wonder of the world viewed the places I encounter in my daily life as beautiful. It was that single moment when I realized how we tend to underestimate the worthiness of the areas that surround our typical life and we treat them very poorly. Since then I have decided to raise awareness among locals in each and every place I reside in about the significance of their regions and help them preserve those places.