The Ambiguous Odyssey

When I just turned fifteen during early 2014, my brother and I were traveling to Spain in the Summer but as Yemenis we had a few bumps on the road. Our American passports were expired and we only had our diplomatic ones which in some countries actually mean some sort of immunity, but not in Yemen not under Hadi’s ruling. There was no Spanish embassy, so we went to the Italian embassy to get shin-gin visas. As we arrived to the embassy with our uncle who wasn’t allowed to come inside, only my brother and I were allowed in. The degradation began with their searching of our belongings, we were not allowed to let our phones inside and we were treated badly at the gate. As we stepped inside the embassy, quite a fancy place, we were led to an empty hall and awaited for what seemed like an eternity then the interrogation began. Finally, a few hours later we were set free and left with papers to fill. I remember how annoyed I felt, but at the same time although I felt degraded and belittl...

Are we chosen, given, or gifted the lives we get?   Are they the accumulation of our actions? Are they tests or are they results? These are the questions that ponder abstemiously in my mind when I hear his wailing, his cries. The human mind such treacherous place, an embodiment of a prison, if this mind feels the imprisonment there is nothing keeping you away from losing all sanity. Why him? Why not me? This question is burying my every thought. Why him? Why not me?   I have been going to see a physical therapist for an issue I have, not one of much importance, I was just a bit concerned. I arrived at exactly 8:30 am and there was almost no one, I was assigned to the last room in the hallway. As I got settled I heard a voice both husky and incomprehensible. I predicted the calls were from an elderly man who was mentally ill and paralyzed. As I was waiting I could hear his grunting and I was growing anxious I decided to approach the room neighboring mine and I saw ...

It’s in moments like these that I am filled with some unspoken form of joy, pride, and hope. Today marks the fourth anniversary of the growing mound of grief we have become. It is hard to come to terms with the thought that when this started I was a teenager that just turned sixteen and now I am twenty and in my third year of university, still alive. Four years later and I am still beating the odds, one torturous day after the other. Never in my wildest dreams would I have thought this is how my life would turn out; a constant fear of tomorrow. As this aggression continues to end the souls of many and leaving people homeless you would think that this is where it ends. You would think that the bombs are all we fear; those missile falling from the sky like comets just with the additional fear of death, but it is not, these four years have changed the place I call home. The pain lies here in the fact it hasn’t changed because of the destruction of homes or the death of people al...

My dear, you will never be the right person at the right time, but the fault does not lie within yourself rather it lies in the depth of their faults, their insecurities, their self-loathe. So, don’t you dare put the blame on yourself or carry the burden of others.  The burden of those who give themselves valid excuses to give you the cold shoulder, those who decide that you are the one to blame for every mishap they come across, those are the people you happily cross out of your life. Sometimes those people are the same people who once built walls and fought dragons to protect you but little did you know that one day you would need walls to shield you from them. So, gently my dear, take a deep breath, take a step forward, and set yourself free. Set yourself free from the chains that are no longer visible for these chains have been holding you back for so long. They have been holding you back from all the possibilities of a better tomorrow. Yes, it is hard to break through the shac...