Monday 09 / March / 2026
When I could not take any more with the news on television of the current situation, I decided to go out for a drive and maybe I could forget about the regional war.
I was looking at the full moon as I was driving on the road. I did not realise that I was actually slowing down until an impatient driver behind me honked several times. I decided to pull up at the side of the road.
I walked out and took a picture of the moon so I would not miss anything. As I was walking back to my car, I was surprised that no one had noticed it was the night of the full moon. Everybody was busy with the war talk and none thought it was exciting enough to look up.
Later on that night, to make sure my effort did not go unnoticed, I sent the photo to my WhatsApp group, just to share what I saw that evening. An hour passed and no one really made any comment. I was a little disappointed but mostly surprised with people’s reactions. If I had sent photos of a car accident with bodies lying injured or dead on the road then everybody would have made comments. No one is really interested with the celestial body lighting up a dark sky.
Perhaps I was expecting too much from the use of the social media. People are not obliged to get connected to what has moved you. They have their own agendas. Like motorists on the roads, they just want to do what they think is best for them. Attracting the curiosity of normal people can be very challenging for those who are looking for quick reactions. Most of us go for the drama. The splashing of the blood and the dead bodies. They want to see the misfortunes of others fully visible on the small screens of their mobiles.
I guess it is a new element of modern human nature. I am not sure which clever man in history who once said,” show me grace and I will ignore it but show me distress than I will give it my full attention.” That’s the way it is. Talking about the social media, it is funny how they coined the trend. How could anyone be locked in his own world with just a mobile phone in his hands and be social? The virtual information disconnects people from reality but yet we all get connected electronically in trivial pursuit. You can see the full moon anytime you want and you don’t have to be there when it rises to the sky.
But I guess what really attracts people with the social media is the unreality of the whole thing. Clever manipulations of video clips, graphics, voices and even photographs are all designed to make a dramatic impact. You know what you are looking at is unreal but you still go along with it. We have windows in our houses but we have stopped looking outside as if the real scenes that look back to us are not factual. The sad thing is that our children grow up into the habit. It is an inheritance that has irreversible damage.
With the war dragging on and never seems to end, the social media is really taking command of our spare time. Let’s all pray it will stop before the first day of Eid.
