On March 15th, of 2011. The Syrian revolution started, I remember being in Syria and watching people protest, and I also remember the army standing aside watching for nothing to go wrong. It started out as a peaceful revolution to change some things for better and to gain more "freedom."
I don’t know how it happened but things escalated quickly, there were more than two parties and everyone started fighting. As a teenager who lived in an almost peaceful world for so long, I had no idea how things can go bad so fast, I was so confused and concerned. Everyone around me had their opinions and I was expected to pick a side. This subject was the main conversation everywhere; family meetings, music lessons, friends gathering, taxi rides and somehow people found a way to include it in their small talk.
The conflict itself wasn’t a pleasant event, and these conversations only made it worse. Years passed by and it was time for us to leave according to my family. Note, I still had no political opinion on what’s going on other than that I hated the situation we were in. I left Syria 2 weeks before the mark of the three years’ conflict. Everyday talks between people got less heated up because they got used to it and it became a part of their daily lives. However, every time something happened like an explosion or an airstrike a little piece of my heart turned black. I'll be honest and say I felt some guilt, I had the chance to leave and even though it wasn’t fully my decision, my family took that chance. I felt bad because others who are struggling more than I, were stuck there whether they wanted to leave or not. I felt guilty because my struggles were irrelevant compared to the struggles of people under the rubbles.
March 15th, 2017 marks 6 years of this revolution/war/conflict or whatever you want to call it. It’s not that date yet and people are already posting about it all over social media.
The people who are against the regime have been posting about how great it is. That it’s been 6 years that the “New Syria” has been born and that they’ve had 6 years of accomplishments. They even posted “Happy sixth anniversary of Syrian revolution”. They used the word happy.
And supports of the regime have been celebrating their achievements and their victories against the rebels and the oppositions. They are celebrating that the regime have survived all these years without change all the while celebrating.
While I look at these two sides I feel disgusted. How are they able to celebrate anything? I don’t know if it’s just me but the word celebration doesn’t go with this situation. It’s been six years. Everyone across the world watches the news, and no one has found a solution yet. People are looking at the accomplishments and achievements and I, as an 18 year old, all I see is 470,000 killed over the past 6 years and 4.8 million escaped their homes and are being labeled as refugees.
I haven’t had a strong opinion about which side I want to pick and fight against for a long time, but over the years I realized that I am picking the civil side, I am picking to be a human before anything else. I am taking a stand against death and against killing. All we should care about are the people’s safety and their simple right to live.
