(from ‘Dolorem Ipsum’ by Isabel del Rio)
Artistic photo by Isabel del Rio
كلمات وفنّ تصويري ايزابيل دَلْ رِيو
بعد مائة عامٍ من الوباء، يأخذنا وباء آخر على حين غرّة وكان صدمة لمعظمنا. نعم، إنها لصدمة بلّْ وصدمة عنيفة. يتساءل معظمنا باستمرار، كيف ونحن في الغرب هذا الثريّ المميّز، علينا أن نعاني على المستويين الصحي والاجتماعي إذ لا يصدقون كيف عليهم ألاّ يقوموا بأعمالهم اليومية المعتادة ولا ما يستمتعون به ولكأنّما الحياة هي رحلة استمتاع دائمة فقط. في مناطق أخرى من العالم، أجيال ودولٌ عانت وتعاني من العيش المضنك. بينما هنا، في الغرب، نستمر بالتذمر وكأنّما الحياة هي حقّ امتياز مُنح لنا ونتشّكى من التقلبات كطفل مُدّلل يتباكى حين يعتبر عمّا يواجهه من تغيير في الظروف غير عادل.
Synopsis: A hundred years after the last world pandemic, the present pandemic has taken us by surprise, and for most it has come as a complete shock. Yes, the current viral contagion is shocking, and it could not be more serious. But many continuously ask: how can we, here in the privileged West, have to suffer so much and why should our lives be so badly affected. They will not accept the fact that they cannot go about their daily lives as they used to and are no longer allowed to continue doing what they have so far enjoyed; as if life had to be fun at all times and at any expense. In other eras, generations, and countries, people have had to live in insufferable conditions, and in fact they still do. But here, we go on complaining as if leading the life we wish to lead were a given right, and capriciously complain like spoilt children about what we consider a terrible injustice when things are not going our way.
neither you nor I, in this,---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- *Material should not be published in another periodical before at least one year has elapsed since publication in Whispering Dialogue. *أن لا يكون النص قد تم نشره في أي صحيفة أو موقع أليكتروني على الأقل (لمدة سنة) من تاريخ النشر. *All content © 2021 Whispering Dialogue or respective authors and publishers, and may not be used elsewhere without written permission. جميع الحقوق محفوظة للناشر الرسمي لدورية (هَمْس الحِوار) Whispering Dialogue ولا يجوز إعادة النشر في أيّة دورية أخرى دون أخذ الإذن من الناشر مع الشكر الجزيل
the privileged West, ever
experienced
the black death, famine, war and civil war, foreign
occupation, death camps, deprivation, denial, torture
in the lands of the privileged West;
still, you would not have to travel back in time
to live through such episodes, for they are happening
today, though not here in the privileged West;
and therefore, we are now confronted
with a being who, like most of us living in the
privileged West, is impervious to others’ needs,
and knows well how to hold its own, will methodically
replicate at our expense and with no need for our
assistance, even here in the midst of the privileged West,
taking from us basically what we are and
stand for, even the rituals not really worth defending
in the privileged West are disappearing fast;
it has an advantage over us, naturally. for it exists
somewhere between the living
and the non-living, alongside us in the privileged West;
and how can we, mere mortals but with considerable perks
in the privileged West, ever manage to deal
with the indescribable and the inconceivable, perhaps it is
a battle lost, and despite all arsenals accumulated
by the privileged West to be used in other regions, we
cannot even begin to destroy this particular antagonist,
for we, here at the privileged West,
are more its enemy than it is
ours
© isabeldelrio 2021
