A mother, Farah, woke up on a Friday morning, got ready with her son and left her peaceful home to meet her family at Château De Mer in Damour (the beach where her, her siblings and cousins all grew up going to).
Now, her son and his best friend/cousin are following the family tradition. LIttle did she know that her day was not only gonna be hectic and overwhelming because of the busy friday afternoon, but also because their family tradition was about to be crumpled to pieces.
“My child was at the kids’ pool when all the fuss started,” Farah explained. But what was the big fuss about? In my perspective, as in Rita, it all happened so fast and I was so confused and couldn’t wrap my mind about why this has happened. It took a little while after the situation for me to calm down and understand what had occurred a few moments ago as well as to stop being confused and frightened.
In Farah’s perspective, it was about, “a lifeguard asking a child to leave the swimming pool because he couldn’t follow simple rules.” I was chaperoning Farah’s son and his cousin Mellina when the dad, also known as the gun carrier, and the lifeguard started pushing, shoving and punching each other for a few seconds before getting seperated.
“It escalated really fast when the father of the boy ran to his table and grabbed his gun then headed towards the lifeguard. My son and niece were right there. Only a few feet away. Security then dragged him out,” Farah expressed.
Farah said her son’s reaction to the situation was psychologically unhealthy for him. “He copes with fear by sleeping and it is inconvenient to his mental state. The trauma is printed in his memories forever,” claimed Farah.
However, her niece, Mellina, coped differently and was very alarmed for the rest of the day. “Mellina was very afraid and she wouldn’t let go of her mother for a really long time. Not a word towards others. Just staring at everyone and everything around her. Her restless, melancholy body just resting in her mom’s arm,” Etidal, Farah’s mother, narrated. Trauma is embedded into our minds for the rest of our lives but trauma is easier to handle at an older age and not when you’re 3 or 4 years old.
“It’s so hard to raise a child while you’re not able to give them the safety they deserve because of external factors like being and living in a country full of irresponsible people. Having illegal guns is a horrible thing that a lot of people suffer from but also having legal guns in the hands of idiotic and stupid people is equally harmful and dangerous,” Farah disclosed and advocated
By Rita Salamey.