Monthly Archives: November 2013

My Mom, The Woman Who Beat Cancer

There are a lot of things that one could wish in the days leading up to their birthday. Mine is tomorrow. People tell you the best thing you could ask for is health. I got the best early birthday gift today.

My mom, Jinane, is officially cancer free.

It was a long and winding road that I saw her take. And she has reached the finish line. It was one tough year.

I saw people talk around the disease like an entity whose name shouldn’t be mentioned. And I saw her hurting every time they did.
I saw people look at her with pity and I saw how it killed her every time they did.
I saw her lose her hair and still fight.
I saw her become bed-ridden after chemo.
I saw her become one of those people you see in movies with a scarf around their heads.
I saw her face next to a bucket for more days than I can count.
I saw her look at herself in the mirror and reminisce at the woman she was.
I saw her fight.
I saw her never lose hope.
I saw her keep that spark in her eyes.
I saw her pray. I saw her love. I saw her become more amazing, more beautiful.

Breast cancer awareness month is in October. But cancer is a year-long disease.

There are a lot of things that make me proud about having that woman be my mother. But if there’s one that beats them all, it’s the sheer courage with which she faced her predicament and the bravery with which she came out triumphant.

Mom, I love you. I wish I were home to hug you. Now I’ll just have to wait on some neighbor to read this and go down to tell you how lucky a woman you are to have a son who loves you. That’s not true. I’m lucky to have you.

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This is for Lucy who lost her cancer fight today. May you rest in peace you brave, brilliant woman.

The Best Picture Out of The 2013 Beirut Marathon

Beirut’s Marathon, which takes place yearly in November, is one of those events that exude positivity. After all, endorphins are in wide release with all those people running. Some run for exercise. Others run for causes they are trying to bring awareness to.

I have friends who ran for polio awareness. Others, such as the folks at IDRAAC, ran to advocate for mental health. Pictures were taken and shared. And yet, the best one of them all – the one that brought a smile to my face, and which I hope does to yours as well, is the following:

Who said visually impaired people cannot run a marathon?

With the help of his friend, the man in the above picture was able to do something that many had thought people like him would never be able to do. He overcame his disability and embodied the message that Beirut’s Marathon tries to set forth with it existing in such a tumultuous city.

How’s that for some Sunday pick-me-up?

Upcoming Lebanese Doom: Hassan Nasrallah “Hosted” on Basmeit Watan

You can see it now, the headlines of tomorrow: riot spreads across the land… because of a caricaturization.

LBC has guts. They’ve been expanding their forte over the past several months with excellent reporting and productions. They have now set the bar higher for everyone else once again by doing something that they did a while back to some grave consequences: they got Hassan Nasrallah to be caricatured on their satire show “Basmeit Watan.” They also mentioned a prophet.

The following is the video of the episode:

Hassan Nasrallah’s supporters have already cut off roads around Beirut in protest.

I guess everyone tunes in when the subject matter is this juicy. I mean, come on, you can smell the drama coming off from hundreds of kilometers away. It’s not like Lebanese mentalities have evolved in the years since Hassan Nasrallah was “hosted” last in order to fathom such caricatures. If anything, the country has gone way backwards in its extremism.

The YouTube comments on the video in question are hilarious. The following is a screenshot:

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I wondered for a while if I just don’t get it. Then I decided that I do. I understand that Hassan Nasrallah is important to his people from a religious perspective, being theoretically a descendent of the prophet Mohammad and whatnot. I understand that a country like Lebanon where religious figures are taken in high regard is not the place to turn those people into satire.

I also know the following. Mr. Nasrallah is as active on the political scene as any other major Lebanese politician, if not more. Mr. Nasrallah is much more active politically and militarily in the Lebanese setting than any other politician and religious person in the country. Mr. Nasrallah is also the head of a party that is not, as its name claims, holy. Why should he get the prerogative that others do not get? Where do you draw a line that should not be drawn when it comes to criticism?

No Lebanese public figure should be above being portrayed in a show such as Basmeit Watan. No Lebanese public figure is holy enough not to be criticized. No Lebanese figure that toys with our lives in any way whatsoever gets to be put on a pedestal, as far as I’m concerned, and kept there until God knows when.

I couldn’t care less if Basmeit Watan or any other show portray the Pope, the Patriarch, my non-existent favorite politician or anyone else. What I do care about is that there are people in my country who think a silly TV show is enough reason for them to take it to the streets, do riots, cut roads and cause mayhem. What I do care about is the fact that the country has not changed one bit between Nasrallah 1.0 and Nasrallah 2.0. What I do care about is the fact that, in 2013, people still think holding religious office makes you immune to any form of criticism.

What’s sad is that our Lebanese priorities are reflected in the riots taking place today over a silly TV show instead of what actually counts. It’s sad that there are people who think Basmeit Watan portraying Nasrallah makes LBC an “Israeli Jewish parasite.” It’s sad that there are people who think such a portrayal is somehow a victory for Israel. Such logical fallacies exist in Lebanon, it seems.

Hezbollah, how about you take your men off the streets? Isn’t there some war we shouldn’t be fighting in to take part of? Isn’t there some government that should be formed but isn’t? Isn’t there a country that should not be run to the ground and have its streets cut off and liberties killed off in vain?

Inhumane Lebanese Animal Haters: Hassan Hammoud Microwaves a Cat

Hassan Hammoud, I hope you’re proud of yourself. I also hope your friends are proud of you, of your brains, of your infinitely great intellect. They sure are impressed by your humor, by the looks of it.

A video was uploaded by Mohammad Jallad of Hammoud microwaving a cat just for kicks on Facebook. He doesn’t regret this. He doesn’t believe he did anything wrong. On the contrary, he believes that what he did is okay. He says he doesn’t give a shit about what people say. He was just bored. He wanted to see what would happen to the cat inside a microwave. There’s evil inside every human being, he says.

Tell me, how did you come to the premise that putting a cat in a microwave is a “cute” idea? How did your brain get to the conclusion that this is something you should film? How did you decide that your abomination of a behavior is worth sharing with your friends and with people in general on Facebook?

News flash, Hassan Hammoud: being cruel to animals is part of a psychiatric disorder. Not all people have it. No, you do not get away from this by playing a victim card. You do not get to microwave a cat just for jokes, try to get your friends to be happy about what you did and then pretend that all is okay. 

I’m sick of Lebanese people considering animals lesser creatures that they get to toy with like this. As someone who has a pet, I find this video distressing because I keep thinking of my cat and it would break my heart for anything to happen to her.

No, I’m not disconnected with reality. I’ve grown up in small town Lebanon. I’ve seen people my age crucify birds and shoot cats and hammer dogs. I’ve seen people run over cats just for the fun of it. I couldn’t say anything about it back then. But I can now.

This behavior is unacceptable. This behavior is not cute. It’s not fun. It’s not funny. It’s not remotely healthy. What the behavior championed by Hassan Hammoud and the many people like him is, quite simply, a disgrace. And those “creatures” join the ever-growing list of human being abominations whose existence is a waste of oxygen.

Update: Two American teenage girls have done the same thing a while back. They were charged with cruelty (link).

Update 2.0: Mohammad Jallad, the guy who uploaded the video, has removed it and apologized. No word yet on Hassan Hammoud, the guy who actually microwaved the cat. 

Vaccinate Your Children Against Polio Starting Tomorrow

The Lebanese ministry of Public Health is starting a massive polio vaccination campaign tomorrow. As I’m currently rotating in pediatrics, I’ve seen a lot of parents who are unaware of the vaccine, who are having second thoughts about giving it to their children and who have not given the vaccine much thought to begin with.

Why You Should Care:

With the increasing influx of Syrian refugees, Lebanon is at an increased risk of a resurgence of diseases that we thought had long died off in the country, second to successful campaigns, such as polio.
Because the Syrian refugees in the country are uncontrolled, we cannot ascertain the disease load they’re bringing with them as as such we have to be extra careful with our children’s well being.

Poliomyelitis is a viral infection that can leave your kid paralyzed. Why take the risk?

Why You Should Spread The Word:

Polio vaccines are in two forms: an oral form and an inactivated injectable form. Both have 100% efficiency. The latter has no side effects while the former has a side effect that happens at about 1 in 2.4 million. The form that will most probably be employed in the campaign is the oral form and this provides the country with something that is called herd immunity and is actually able to help the children that have not be vaccinated.

How?

Herd immunity is basically the following: when people in a setting are all incapable of catching a disease and therefore spreading it, those who are not vaccinated will be protected by default. In case of the oral polio vaccine, the vaccine gets excreted by the child and can be transferred to other children. Therefore, the more you spread the word and the more children get vaccinated, the more the country will be protected.

Consult Your Pediatrician:

Your doctors are there to help you. Many of you have most probably had their children take the polio vaccine already but if you have any doubt on the matter, consult your pediatrician and ask them what to do. They will be more than helpful given that they are active components of the campaign set forth by the ministry of health.

I know this isn’t the regular stuff you’d expect from this blog but I find this matter of utmost importance and I hope you find that is the case as well.