umkahlil

Don’t serve at the altar like Johnny Thaljieh

According to the Pope on the day of the funeral, in the 2,000 or so years since Christ was supposedly born in a grotto under the site of the Church of the Nativity, no one has ever died violently on the sacred ground of Manger Square.

Don’t write poetry like Kamal Nasser

Don’t write short stories like Ghassan Kanafani

Don’t catch birds

Don’t Go For A Walk like Nahla Aqel
Don’t Stay in Your House like Said Hajien,
Don’t Embroider like Shaden Hijleh
Don’t Play Outside Your House like Mausa Abu Zanon,
Don’t Drive A Car
And Don’t Be A Passenger Like Christine Saada

Don’t walk home from school like Moayad Jawareesh

Don’t ride a bike like the four quarrymen

Don’t herd your sheep like Othman Abdullah Issa, aged 30, and his son Fathi Othman Abdullah Issa, aged twelve.

Don’t ring church bells like Samir Ibrahim Salman

Don’t play drums at Ramadan like Jihad Natour

Don’t walk to the mosque with your brothers like Mohammed Isma’il ‘Olayan al-Hamaida, 11

Don’t sit in your desk at school

Don’t go fishing like Zeyad al-Bardaweel

Don’t teach computer science like Professor Khaled Salah

Don’t practice medicine like Dr. Khalil Sulieman

Don’t be a nurse in a geriatric hospital like Abed al-Karim Anwar Lubbad, 22, and Omar Saad al-din Hussan, 21.

Don’t bake bread
Don’t leave your house to help a sick neighbor

to be continued...