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.