OGERO... My Phone number is WRONG!!

It was 7:00 pm. My husband was standing with the electrical technician that came to connect the generator's electrictiy after we had lost hope of the EDL (Electricité Du Liban).

The phone rang, and I had to answer the it. It was a women (W*) in the 50's, but from its voice it seemed to be pretending to be a lady. Her phone number started with 07, so I supposed she is a neighbor living nearby.

I: Hello;
W*: Hello, do you have a generator to lend us electricity?
I: No sorry, but I can give you the number of the generator's owner if you live nearby.
W: I live in Jiyeh.
I: Ah, we live in Saadiyat, I guess it is not that near.
W: Saadiyat?
I: Yes, Saadiyat.
W: But your number starts with 995 code, I am sure your number is WRONG!!
(for moments I didn't realize what she was saying, but my words preceded)
I: WRONG? How could that be if I answered? Shall I call OGERO and tell them, sorry I have a problem my phone number is wrong, could you please replace it so that you like? What numebr do you prefer?

Then I hang up.
I realized, why don't people say: "Sorry, I am wrong, I dialled this number wrong."
Why don't a person admit he has mistaken?
Are we all angels, and what we do is the right thing always, no matter what others see, or think?
Or is this in Lebanon only, or in Arabs?

This is not true, everybody has his mistakes.
Why don't we know how to say "SORRY"?
Why is it when you talk to a certain mother and tell her watch your son (He is smoking), she always says: "Leave him, my son is a grown-up (Ibni sar Shab)."
Why don't we shout at our youngs and teach them what is right or wrong?
Is it inside us, that we are never wrong?
Am I always wrong when all people are right?

I guess we need to be more educated at schools, seminars, and many other meetings to learn and teach the coming generation to be more aware of such tiny things that make us transcend high, and make from us better people. And dont forget that "Admission of guilt is a virtue", even if it wasn't a guilt, a little mistake, coz mistakes happen everywhere and everywhen. (الاعتراف بالذنب فضيلة )

Minimum Demand

Everyday, inside or outside my house, all I am afraid of is the lack of security in such a country.

I live in a country that lacks of any sort of human respect. Humans have no rights here, even the simplest, which is to feel safe.

In the house, the door is always locked, and the keys are still hung in the lock, so that nobody enters a metallic wire and opens it. When a beggar knocks my door, and since I am married and live alone, the first thought that comes into my head is: "Perhaps she has a knife, or an anesthetic and wants to rob me", so I always answer: "My mom is not here, thank you."

When we go out in the car, I always put my bag between my legs (when my husband is driving), close the windows, and even lock the doors, always afraid that at any moment a motorcycle or even a passing-by human will open the door, steal my bag, and run away before I even realize what's happening here.

While walking on the street, if I was alone, I hold my bag on my shoulder, then hold my bag with my hand again. I think people seeing me think that I have diamonds in my bag, but the fact is that I am afraid of losing my official papers, coz they will never return, and the government will make nothing to fetch the burglar.

Now, if I was walking on the street with my husband or someone else, I hold his right hand with my left hand, while holding my bag on my left shoulder, so now my bag is in the middle of the two of us, and the probability for it to be stolen is less than usual (Insha'Allah).

These are some of the precautionary measurements that we do during our day, we are not that naggy kind, but nowadays you see and hear things that come onto no bodies head.

I believe that in all countries there are robberies, but at least if someone filed a complaint againt a theif, some actions are done to try to catch him, not like we live, the number of theives here are more than the normal guys and nobody cares, nobody says a word, and the people are seeking for their security by their own. Each one of them has its own gun at home, placing it under his pillow, in the closest drawer maybe, the easiest way to reach it, because nobody asks about his securtiy, and nobody is judged.

This is how most people in Lebanon live, they wake up everyday and say: "May evil people stay away of us" (Allah yeb3od 3anna wlad l 7aram), hoping to return their homes with the least damages, and life is still going on in this country.