Words to live by
How a Single Quote Changed My View on Life
On this earth something worth living for
Arabs love poetry! Believe me, no nation on this earth loves poetry more than Arabs. In school, we had to memorize poetry of famous Arab poets — and I wouldn’t say I liked it. I did not hate the poems; I just hated that I had to memorize them. I never understood the reason for this task; it sounded old fashioned and just a way to fill a curriculum.
In 2003 I left for Europe to pursue my higher education. Being away from my familiar surrounding was an excellent experience. I learned a lot, I expanded my horizon, and I got to learn many new things about the world, things that I would have never learned in the comfort of my home town.
While in Europe and every time I felt distant from my Arabic culture, I’ll spend a day listening to Arabic music and reading an Arabic book. Reading Arabic had this effect on me; it immediately took me back away from the Latin alphabets, and it reminded me, somehow, of home.
One day I was feeling down, homesick, and unfulfilled. It has been six years after high school, I was still in college, away from family and friends, and alone. I searched for music that went along with my mood and I ended up listening to Arabic poetry accompanied by soft music. Suddenly I heard a sentence, a sentence that ever since became my motto:
.على هذه الأرض ما يستحقُّ الحياة
On this earth is something worth living for. — Mahmoud Darwish
To understand the significance of these words by Darwish, one must know a little bit about the man, his background, and his struggles in life.
Mahmoud Darwish was one of the most acclaimed poets in the Arabic world. He was the poetic voice of the Palestinian people. His affection to a lost homeland drives his thirty-seven books in poetry and prose.
Darwish was born in 1941 in Al-Birwa in western Galilee. His village was demolished by the Israeli forces in 1948 to prevent Palestinians from returning to their homeland. In 1948 his family fled to Lebanon and returned to their home country a year later and settled in Deir Al-Asad.
In 1964 a poem by Darwish, Write down I’m an Arab, landed him in an Israeli prison and made him the icon he is today in the Arab world. He fell in love with a Jewish woman — she is called Rita in his poems. Their love affair ended when Rita joined the Israeli army, and Darwish published “Rita and the Rifle,” an iconic poem by Darwish testifying his love for Rita.
In 1970 he moved to Lebanon, and he was exiled from his homeland, only to return in 1995 to Ramallah. He stated that Ramallah was still exile for him and commented that the West Bank was not his “Private homeland.”
Ironically, Darwish’s last name comes from the Persian word Dervish, which means “one who goes from door to door.” Darwish hated the homelessness he and other Palestinians went through. His poetry, however, was driven by this feeling.
“On this earth is something worth living for” resonated with me considering all the hardships, which Darwish went through. After all, he saw the positivity in life; he saw the beauty in life.
On this earth is something worth living for
Too often, when we are sad or down, we focus on the negativity around us, and we forget the important thing: life is beautiful.
Looking at the beauty in the world is more potent than breathing in the negative. We know that beauty, love, warm feeling, compassion, and positivity are somethings we are eager to have and feel. However, we often forget about them and concentrate on stress, life’s obligations, pressure, and negativity.
Life will get in your way sometimes, do not forget to see the beauty through its hurdles.
This motto taught me to be compassionate about myself, others, and the world around me. It pushes me to see the beauty in the moonless night, to feel the warmth of being loved on a cold night, to taste the passion in wine off beautiful lips, to smell the freshness in the ingredients of a home-cooked meal and to hear the songs of trees in a windy day.
It taught me to see beauty through ugly. It helps me see the glass half full all the time. The mindset to focus on the positive and beautiful is a healthy mindset; it will lift you even in your darkest times.
I translated the poem by Darwish for you to read below, and to listen to the poem in Arabic with music, click here.
On this earth is something worth living for,
April’s weather hesitates, the smell of fresh-baked bread at dawn,
a woman’s point of view on men, Aeschylus’s writings,
the beginning of love, growing grass on a stone,
mothers standing on a thread of flute, and the invaders fear of memories,
on this earth is something worth living for.
The end of September, a lady leaving her forties looking her best,
an hour of sun in a prison, clouds shaped like living creatures,
the cheers of the people heading towards their end smiling,
and the tyrants fear of songs,
on this earth is something worth living for.
On this earth is the queen of earth,
mother of all beginnings, mother of all ends,
she was called Palestine, she is now called Palestine.
My lady, I deserve because you are my lady,
I deserve to live.
Sources to read more:
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Mahmoud Darwish's BiographyMahmoud Darwish: The internal refugee
Walid Al Otaibi -WAO- works at an engineering company in Germany as a Project Manager. He manages mainly sustainable energy projects.
He comes from a multicultural background and is located in Germany since 2003. He is writing about Arab Culture, Multiculturalism, Finance, and Trending topics.
