Last summer, our cousins came to visit us . . . my friends, whom I was meeting for the first time. We were all at Grandpa’s house. Sometimes we played together, sometimes we bickered, and we laughed a lot. They stayed for only a few days before deciding to return to Lebanon. Deep down, I was sad, and my little brother cried a lot. His tears continued to soak his beautiful eyes until, an hour after they had left, we learned that they were coming back! Smiles finally took the place of tears.
The most important thing was that they had returned, but we had not yet realized the gravity of the situation that had prevented them from leaving our city in southern Syria. My family and I had lost our home, along with everything we owned . . . and the war began.
The days that followed were not easy. Sadly, like children, we played and played without stopping. What they did not realize was that their anxiety had been passed on to us without our even being aware of it. How? Let me explain.
Lego—you all know it, don't you? It was the only toy my mother had brought with her from our home, and the only memento left of the world we had known there. My brother and I played with it almost every day, and it helped us get through those days of fear as violence spread throughout Suwayda.
Together with our cousins, we built a world without war out of little Lego bricks. It was a world marked by love, grace, and courage, without weapons, violence, or conflict. For us, it was paradise.
I imagined a world that I wished, with all my heart, could exist in reality. Our generation loves to play, and we need such a world: a world filled with peace, free from wars and worries, where night means safety and serenity, and where laws are in place to prevent any misfortune.
A world where every crime is punished, regardless of the social status of the person who commits it; a world founded on equality, where no individual, leader, or authority places themselves above others. A world where knowledge occupies a central place, and where respect—for others and among all of us—is the rule. This is the world I long for; this, in essence, is what we all need.
