Dinner is like a ritual practice that brings together every member of the family, whether you want to eat or not, you have to be at the table….
“Paul, Gerard, Christine, Arnaud, Seb… oh! You’re here! Food is ready.” In a loud voice, Melissa invites her niece and nephews to join the table while putting the last plate on the table.
“Hmmhm! Smells good! Guys, where are you at?” Sebastian called out, turning on the TV to watch soccer.
“Uh! It’s rice again, I’m over this thing,” Paul said with a grimace on his face.
“Next time, prepare food for yourself. Ingrate boy,” Melissa said, staring at him while he served himself food.
“Please, Sebastian, put on the news; it’s already 8:00 pm,” Christine shouted.
“What’s new you want to know? Is there a new planet discovered, or have you been appointed for any position?” Sebastian mocked Christine.
“Is that your dad’s club you’re cheering on? Please don’t make me repeat myself,” Christine quarreled.
[Forks scraping on the plates]
“Let’s vote,” Sebastian suggested.
“Hey, young boy, put on the news,” Melissa ordered.
She then passed through the corridor, walking on her tiptoes to know exactly what Arnaud was doing. She put her ear on the door, trying to eavesdrop on him. Something is scratching on the door. She opened it, but it’s locked.
“Arnaud! Arnaud!!”
“Yes, ma’am! Just a second, I’m coming right away.”
[On the way back to the table, Melissa walked backward to listen to the ongoing conversation on the phone.] There have been strange people coming to the house to ask questions about Arnaud for the past 2 months….
On the news, a citizen is expressing his discontent to local authorities; the expropriation and compensation processes didn’t go as he wished and deemed right.
“I have lived in this house since the 90s, this is my home, a home for my family, now you want me to restart my life with 2,3 coins? That’s an insult to the people. I know we are not allowed to challenge this decision, but I’d rather die for the truth than pretend that I am happy. What do they know about being homeless? You can’t make such a decision for people living in these current conditions without their say, supposedly leading a democratic governance. There’re things which are difficult to comprehend.”
“Oh, oh! Things don’t seem right,” Paul said.
“When did things seem right to you?” Melissa asked.
“When ‘citizens’ were happy,” Paul replied, making air quotes with his fingers. “I mean, when we had fewer problems, I have a feeling that it worsens as years go by.”
“Pass me the salt, please,” Gerard said while chewing and handing his hand to Paul.
“There’re wars left and right that have been occurring for the last 4 decades; war between nations where powerful countries politically say that they are intervening for citizens’ safety and they just fuel the absurd cause of it for their own benefit. 40 years! Or even 50, and nobody has been able to win the war in those years. Do you really think people have failed to stop the war? War is where treasure is. Despite its effects on all of us,” Christine articulated.
“Hey, Mrs. Fairness! I was referring to the man’s concern here in our country,” Paul replied.
“Oh! Because you think it’s not relatable to the exalation of inflation which causes the disatisfaction of that man? He doesn’t see any value in the amount of money he’s being given,” Christine added.
“Leave Paul alone, he’s benefiting from the war,” Gerard said, giving a wink to Christine.
[Laughters]
“But seriously, how do you give $90 to a family to go start a living in this current economy?” Melissa wondered.
“Why do you guys always bring politics to the table?” Sebastian quarreled.
“Because politics is life, honey, everybody is part of it, so you better follow what is being done for you, as what’s happening around you,” Melissa replied.
“I don’t know if it’s the effect of growing up or the result of these kinds of conversations, but I think people are waking up and realizing what’s being done all around the world, how egocentric power-holders are, and how big of a lie justice for all is; and I am hoping that this awakening leads to holding them accountable,” Gerard said.
“What is being revealed is just a piece of bread, because often they accept to be defeated with the consequences of their actions in lieu of revealing their plan. And when we don’t know the plan, we all seem to be surprised with what’s happening like it’s a disaster falling on us while there have always been a plan. And with consequences, they pay a lot of money and chop many lives to hide the plan,” Christine added.
“But how does it start? Coz at the beginning everybody presents good intentions for the nation, and all of a sudden the place looks better than it actually is for its citizens. At which point does it change?” Paul asked.
“Arnaud, is everything okay? You’re so quiet,” Melissa wondered.
“It’s all good!” Arnaud replied, the fire in his eyes lit up, like surprised to hear his name.
“Nothing grander than the honor of a lie. It feeds you with supremacy and false praises that you can’t find anywhere else,” Gerard said.
“A few weeks ago, while we were discussing the top organizations in the country, I learned that Blue Shard isn’t a religious organization as many people think. It seemingly dissociated from the politics, aimed at profit. It’s just a shortcut for money supposedly for farming, education, charity,… any sector you can think of.” Gerard added.
“They have established many initiatives to get access to us, contrary to our free will by making it seem like our choice. Exploiting our hopes and maintaining a fearful obedient population,” Gerard proceeded.
[In an awkward silence, everybody stared at each other]
“Why?” Sebastian asked.
“Because they have to have information our thinking and choices,” Gerard uttered.
“Once the system chooses you as its ally, you first think that it’s a favor that you have to work hard and transparently to give back to the society, then as time goes by, you get to know more about their intentions,” Gerard added.
Arnaud got up and went back to his room…
“People who have refused to cope have died silently. Well, they’ll be remembered for the rules they broke. At least by those they share the same ideology,” Gerard mentioned.
“I remember, grandpa said something similar to that about people’s free will. He used to say: ‘Freedom is best described as something that is not what it seems to the majority of the people, only those who have been deprived of it know what it is about. Anything good or bad can obstruct it from you, it depends on the power-holder, sometimes for the benefit of the very few.’ It was one meaningful thing to him,” Sebastian quoted.
“That man knew best what it was like to not be free,” Melissa declared.
“Speaking of that, last week I drove to the central park, and on my way back, I made a brief stop at Brisas hotel. There I bumped into a foreign tourist group who were drinking at the bar. They were sharing their experience in Africa. This one tall guy was narrating a story about how the late Robert Mugabe messed up Zimbabwe, a country he called home. His father made sure every kid would be born in the Netherlands and comes back to Zimbabwe; however, he lost a huge chunk of farmland, and returned to the Netherlands. He was explaining how Zimbabwe failed to protect the rights of true owners who were capable of maintaining the economy of the country,”
And in my head I was like, true owners of an African country who had to be born in the Netherlands and then come back to own the economy? How does that make sense to him? – Paul shared.
“Madness at its peak! Power gives you the sense of grabbing hold of the universe. It’s hard to not get caught up in that,” Christine said.
“Yeah, to me, the most concern that I have is, people not trusting the state, when somebody ever dares to speak out, others feel sorry for the person thinking he’ll be executed. And when somebody is missing, the initial thought is why would we even ask, his life is taken away. So I think that’s a dangerous situation you can ever put into your leadership,” Gerard affirmed.
“It’s funny how we keep getting surprised by our current life and where things are going when we are under capitalism, under an uncontrollable system. Interests over integrity! Since no one understands the system anymore, no one can stop it,” Melissa said.
“No, we should get answers! Convincing answers. Democracy means governments being chosen by the people and being answerable to the people, remember? Not the other way around. The people are answerable to the government. Why?” Christine said.
“C’est la vie!” Melissa exclaimed.
