Truth Induced Paranoia

What is Arab Nationalism and when do we know we have it? First of all let us determine what we have in place. Subsequent to the fall of the Ottoman empire, we have according to various definitions about two dozen nation states considered to be part of the Middle-East region. At least, half of these nation states are the size of a lentil bean.

What does this mean in everyday terms? For example, say there's a guy, an Arab living in Lebanon, so this makes him a Lebanese Arab. It's lunchtime, his friend orders a shawarma sandwich while he orders a falafel sandwich.

Soon enough the man is eating, when suddenly someone bumps him from behind hard enough to knock a falafel ball out of his sandwich. One lone chickpea nugget, the Moor's answer to McNuggets, goes flying skyward, it eventually lands in Yemen. As the man bends over to retrieve the greasy lump made from ceci bean flour which the French call pois chiches, inadvertently his rear-end enters into Bahrainian air-space. Now he's in a quandary. He reveals to the Yemenese border guard in Arabic, "That's my pattie!" The border guard replies according to his function, "What is it doing in Yemen?"

Then, the Bahrainian border guard taps the man on the shoulder. The man turns around and cries out in Arabic, "Hey that's my ass, my Lebanese ass!" The border guard replies in accordance with international law, in Arabic, "What the hell is it doing in Bahrainian Airspace?"

Obviously, both border guards had their backs turned or else they too would have seen the deep-fried chickpea fritter suddenly airborne in one Arab country and without proper identification or papers descend into another Arab country.

Too many questions leave the poor man confused and scared. Like Kafka in the desert. A bent post-Ottoman man-pawn in the chessboard of oil fields, holding a falafel sandwich bereft of it's most defining feature, the garbanzo croquette.

To think, the poor man could have avoided the entire incident had he just ordered the shawarma sandwich.

: )

visit my website at writerblot.com