By: Mondher Marzouki
Translated by: Taghrid Fayad
Evil will never completely end until it is over everywhere
At dawn, the ship that took all the good people, who couldn’t tolerate their loved ones and relatives anymore. They felt that they can’t stay with those evil and sinned people more than that, as they have felt that the world with all its fields, woods, hills, and the sea is too small to hold them together in the same place.
They took the ship and sailed, leaving all the evil people, whose great sins are unforgiven, that was what the good people had thought.
One of the people, who was excited to leave, cut the rope that attached their rescue ship to a rock on the beach, and looked with teary eyes, at his brothers who were abandoned there, and who gathered all on top of a hill, under a great tree. He ordered the sails to be raised, then the ship set off towards the sea, lumbering. It slowly moved away, until it disappeared little by little, in the cloudy horizon. The people who stayed were astonished by the scene of the ship moving with their good brothers, who had barely committed any sin or evil.
The people who stayed in their homeland couldn’t understand the reason, that pushed their leaving brothers to stigmatize them with, of committing evils and sins. They thought that they had only committed the sin of killing for a certain reason, they only got married by a legal contract, and they only ate some fruits of their neighbors’ orchard, when they were offered. The staying brothers also thought that they had only drank wine or beer, when they worked hard for that, and they didn’t act arrogantly, nor they stolen anybody’s fruits or effort. They thought that had never oppressed other people, nor they were treacherous.
Before leaving, the immigrants got together, and isolated themselves from their families and brothers, believing that they have chosen the good and the right way in life. They even asked their families to follow their way of piety and righteousness, but when the good people were desperate, and were sure that their brothers would never follow the right way, they decided to immigrate, in order to keep themselves and their righteous way from being distorted. The good people decided to take a ship and to sail to their promised heaven, where they can live safely, away from sins and evils, in a fertile land, which would offer them all the riches and fortunes they desire, effortlessly.
As for the people who stayed, they looked angrily at the sailing ship, as it was disappearing off sight. The children even became sadder and angrier, and one of those children, who chose to stay with his mom, who was accused of singing, said: “Damn you idiots! Leave us and go to your miserable heaven!” His mom patted his head to calm him down, and said: “Don’t be upset my boy because they are running away. I t’s much better to get rid of them, as they have always besmeared the serenity of the night by their disgraceful deeds, and the same they did to the day, by their hypocrisy and duplicity.” Then she spitted at the sea. The women, who were left away by their husbands and children, became very sad. A boy who was holding a big stone said to the leader of the evil people: “Are we going to be invaded by the rats and the frogs? Are the worms and locusts going to eat us? Have they really taken God with them, in their ship? God has always been with me. I used to call him, whenever I needed him. I used to address him whenever I was afraid, or even missing him! So is God going to abandon me?”
One of the guilty women cried, then another woman who was a prostitute, wept and said: “It is very strange that our leaving brothers were capable of seeing evil in us only, and couldn’t notice fertility in our land, the grace of our woods and fields, the charm of the sunset, sunrise, and the dawn. How come that they couldn’t see love in the hearts of people and birds, and the magnificent colors of the flowers?”
A crying young lady waved to the leaving ship, then whispered to the breeze, saying: “Oh, please my almighty God! Keep them safe from the storms and waves! That ship is carrying lively hearts. Keep them safe in the care of your eye that does not blink, and your hand that does not tremble! I’m here safe with my mom and some members of my family, where we are safe from the wrath of the waves, and the cruelty of being away from our beloved ones.”
Then an old man, who was stigmatized as the greatest of sinners said, while looking at the foam that appeared behind the vanishing ship, as he was contemplating: “Evil does not end completely unless it ends everywhere. How can they get rid of evil, while they have taken a lot of it, with them in their ship, which could not take us, and in their hearts, which could not tolerate us? Don’t be angry my boy, and don’t think that they have left completely. Also, you too my young lady, don’t cry, since we might have traveled with them, in their hearts. Don’t be afraid, because God is still here, in our loving and full-of-life hearts, in our wondering minds, and in our honest excited bodies. God is also here, where there is our heaven, the closest to our hearts. The heaven that could not be seen by those arrogant pretentious people.”
Those were the words of their leader, who was standing up the hill, which was full of willow trees, and the aloe vera and thyme plants. Those were the wise sayings of love and forgiveness. Then he went down, to the fields, with his spade on his back, and said: “May be our mistakes are too much, but we will never commit the sin of running away.”
The crying young lady and the angry boy kept on looking surprisingly at the flock of birds, that came out suddenly from the pinky horizon, hovering above the ship that was vanishing in the fog. They were amazed by the sight of the birds with their fluttering translucent wings, flying towards them, to stay with them for the winter, in the vast lake, that stretched between the high hill, and the willow woods. When the pinky birds flapped their wings above their heads, the stone of anger fell down from the boy’s hand, and the tears of sadness dried in the eyes of the young lady. Then the young lady and the boy flapped their hands happily dancing, heading towards the lake, to receive the coming birds with tender loving hearts, that were open to the love of all things around them.
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