• 05 Sep, 2011

If smiling were religiously forbidden, we Arabs would be among the most devout, for gloom seems to define us. Yet the real question is: why do we lack open faces and sincere smiles?\nSome interpret gloom as an innate or genetic trait, as if it were an unchangeable destiny. Others see our harsh economic and living conditions as the true infrastructure of our gloom, where optimism is often judged as foolish in a life overwhelmed by crises.\nHowever, gloom also has educational roots. Faulty upbringing distorted the meaning of manhood, turning it into sternness, emotional suppression, and denial of joy. This distortion extends into family life, where affection toward children and spouses is often withheld.\nThis warped masculinity reveals itself in social contradictions: tyranny at home, submission at work, and bullying where there is no need for it. Thus, a false personality emerges, compensating for inner weakness with harshness.\nLiberation from this burden requires dismantling corrupt economic and psychological structures and rebuilding a healthy understanding of manhood and humanity—one that affirms life as better than death, and joy as a right rather than a foolishness.\n\nAuthor: Jawad Al-Bashiti