Throughout history great teachers have relied on parables to teach great moral lessons and to convey truth.
This modern day parable was written by a lawyer from Syria who has been living in exile in the UK.
In writing it he hoped to promote understanding of the difficult situation that Syrians are faced with; those who choose to leave, as well as those who choose to stay.
There are no easy options.
And every decision comes at a cost.
***
Patient: Dr, I want you to excise my dignity!
Physician: Your dignity?
(The physician responded with amazement.)
Patient: Yes, my dignity. You are a highly recognized and successful surgeon in this country who specializes in removing malignant tumors. right?
Physician: Yes, but ….
Patient: Believe me, Dr. There is nothing more dangerous than dignity and my dignity is malignant and at a high level now.
Physician: Tell me, what are your symptoms?
Patient: My problem is that I am having a sense of self-worth and I do not want this sensation. Dignity is painful Dr. I am an engineer and my life has been turned upside down in this war in Syria. And my dignity doesn’t allow me to ask for charity in order to feed my family. My dignity won’t allow me to work as a porter. I lost my house and don’t have any refuge now and my dignity won’t allow me to accept any aid or charity. Yesterday, I stood in a long queue for one hour to fill a bottle of water and one thug came and took my turn and then filled 10 tanks of water.
My dignity is irritating me. I screamed and shouted but that only got me assaulted and beaten and my dignity was thrown to the earth and trampled on and I am stressed and tensed until now.
Physician: Hmmm, your dignity is enlarged and might be inflamed. But this is the result of the circumstances of this country.As treatment I suggest you try to travel and leave the country.
Patient: I did Dr. I left the country but my dignity was even worse out there, and I was treated very badly. When I tried to find work in my specialty and showed them my engineering certificate nobody agreed to recruit me .My friends who were with me were getting 0 a month for making sandwiches in a small food shop. Dr, my dignity won’t allow me to work such kind of work. I studied for years and struggled in my study to obtain my PhD and I cannot stand in a restaurant and sell shawarma. My kids are starving Dr. and I am so tired. Please I beg you, help me and excise my dignity.
Physician: OK, as you like, but you have to know that if your dignity is excised it will be difficult to get it back again.
Patient: As miserable as it is making me let it go to hell.
Physician: OK, prepare yourself. We will take you to the operating room now…
Physician: Welcome back, how do you feel now?
Patient: I do not know. I can feel something but it is strange.
Physician: Mmm… OK... I will test you now to make sure that the surgery was successful.
(The physician punches the patient.)
Physician: Did you feel anything?
Patient: No.
(The physician throws a glass of water into the patients’ face.)
Physician: Did you feel anything now!
Patient: Nothing.
Physician: Great. Now I am going to empty this garbage basket on your head… Did you feel anything?
Patient: No.
Physician: That’s awesome. Congratulations. Your surgery was a success. You are now a normal citizen of this country with lost dignity and fit to live and survive in this country.
Patient: Dr! Dr! I’m tearing… I’m tearing! Why am I crying?
Physician: You are crying due to oppression and defeat. Even if your dignity is lost, and even if you grow used to humiliation, the oppression inside you is impossible to excise. But now you will be able to work at whatever you want. You will ignore engineering and accept working in a sandwich shop.
You will tolerate being humiliated, kicked and assaulted.
You will stand in queue and will not mind if someone takes your turn.
You will now be able to see your kids in the streets as beggars and your wife working as a stair washer.
You will live without pride and without dignity.
But you will cry and feel defeated always,
For dignity is impossible to forget,
The one who lived and knew its meaning will spend the rest of his life grieving his dignity that was lost.
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