Reversed Freedom

 It was the day the Arab Spring exploded. I remember it so vividly when I was having lunch with my family and we were watching the news. There were protests. I asked my dad where is this happening? And he said: ‘This is happening here in Libya’. I did not know how to respond to him but I knew that was coming.

Seven months later, Qaddafi was overthrown by the rebels but the cost was high. People fought for freedom. They fought for the right of living a decent life without suppression. We all felt the breeze of freedom, it was light and real.

However, six years later, the country has gone into a dark tunnel and the absence of law and order made life difficult to live. Therefore, the crime rate has reached its peak. So, some people took advantage of the current situation and reversed freedom.

Reversed freedom is a new term that came up to my mind when I was trying hard to understand what is exactly going on in my country, Libya. It means to take advantage of the values and morals of freedom and manipulate them in your favor regardless of what collateral damage they may cause. Civil war is one of its side effects.

The question to be asked is who to blame? I cannot speak for millions of people but I surely can speak for myself. I think that we should never blame each other. We are to blame. I mean if a group of people want to take down a country, should I sit and watch while we go down with it too? Probably not.

I am saddened by the current situation and I can feel my country ache and it hurts. Sometimes I wonder if we really deserve it but maybe we are still paying for freedom. We are capable of putting it back to its original status.

At the end, Freedom should never be reversed or violated because I know that we deserve to live life in peace. I want to see my country develop before my eyes, and that 10 years from now, I can proudly say this is our Libya. It is our home.