One Summer I Will Never Forget--RA

One summer’s day I was playing on my video games with my friend, until my parents called for me. They showed me the news on the TV that a war has just started. I was shocked! I quickly told my friends the bad news. I thought someone would solve the problem, and that’s what I kept on telling myself over and over “In a week or so everything will end.” We kept on playing the video game to calm ourselves down. For a while we had a bit of fun. Though not long after, my friend’s parents called to see if they could pick him up. I became sad and lonely and even a bit panicky, but this was just the first day.

A week or so later, we had to move to the mountains because it was getting too dangerous back in Beirut. I was also melancholy to leave my home, but I heard my friends were going to the mountains too, and not far from me. “Yella Dub keelshee ooh mshee.” My dad said in Arabic, which translates to: Come on pack, everything and move. Every day my friend visited which made me feel better about the situation, and I brought the X-box console with me for entertainment. All I did though other than play on my video games with my friends was watch the news to know what was going on in my country. At the time it all seemed like it was getting worse. Other times I was reading to keep my cool. This summer I actually did a lot of reading and I liked reading books more than ever before.

Another week later we had to move again. We were heading to Cyprus by boat. I didn’t like moving again, and this time it was even worse. My father had to stay back for business. I felt sad that he couldn’t come with us, but my aunt and cousins did accompany us and I knew he had to stay. In Cyprus it was pretty fun for a while. I went to the beach with my cousins and siblings. I even got more books and read even more! But this time even more challenging ones. I also had a good TV so I could see the news when I felt like it was fine there. Though my parents had to start making plans on what to do if my siblings and I had to go to school and where. That was the problem. At last though we had a solution, to go to Portugal and to go study there.

At Portugal, fortunately the war ended. I was filled with happiness. My father’s arrival also added to the happiness. I read 16 books so far. Though I was sad that I had to go to a new school, but I knew I would make new friends. I kind of liked the school. It was a school filled with nice people, and it offered a good education. I did miss my friends and my old school though. Sometimes I felt sad that I wasn’t back in Lebanon with my friends and in my home and my old school at ACS.

I finally came back to Lebanon. Though some of my friends were not in the country, there were still others that were but its ok. Things were becoming like what they used to be but not quite. Many people and places changed. I can’t tell you if the war was altogether bad because some things changed for the better, even though of course a lot of bad things happened. I used to have a low self esteem, but now I have better confidence about who I am. I personally felt a lot of different emotions during the war. I felt mad, angry, sad, happy and a lot of other feelings. I wonder why people cant just simply negotiate. Must they wage horrible wars all the time? That is one of the most important things I learned this summer.