Island - Sarah

"Life is a harsh teacher, first comes the test, and then come the lessons. However, if we don't learn we won't survive." That was what Sarah said to me this year, on the 17th of March. It was the greatest day ever, in her life.

The "Blues" was being played slowly, touching Sarah's soul. It was a cold lonely night and there were many empty glasses at the bar where she was sitting. I watched her wiping her tears very quickly every time she shed some. She never allowed herself to cry on that night.

In 1998, Sarah enrolled in the faculty of Arts at Damascus University. In that year, she met me and my roommate George for the first time. Sarah used to be one of the top students in that faculty. She never got less than eighty on any of the courses. Beautiful, smart, and a lovely girl, that's what she was. There were a lot of good students but she was the only one who had many talents. She was a very good musician; she played piano, guitar, and violin. She was well educated in politics, literature, and science. Every one of the male students fell in love with her but George was the only one whom she had fallen in love with.

Sarah's life always seemed perfect. She was the special student whom everyone wanted to be like. She was always the teachers' pet. She had a very nice love story with a very handsome and smart guy. And even after university her life seemed to be so perfect, and I wouldn't believe otherwise if I didn't see her getting drunk in that bar the other night.

In 2003, Sarah graduated from the university. She had finished her music studying by the time she graduated. She could find a job very quickly in the Canadian embassy. And in the same year she was offered a job in an important company in Canada, however, she turned it down because she was going to get married to George who didn't want to leave Syria. They got married in 2004. And in 2005 they had their only child, Judy. Sarah couldn't work for a long time and had to quit most of her activities after she had her baby. However, she was so happy. Actually, she'd never been happier.

I was always in touch with her and George. At times, I felt that George wasn't happy like his wife. Sometimes I felt that he was sick of his life. 2006 was the worst year of their marriage. George cheated on Sarah with a woman called Laila. He once came to tell me that he was planning to file for divorce but I thought he was just angry and didn't mean what he said but actually he did. On a cold night of October 2006 I woke up on the sound of the phone ringing at 2a.m. It was a waiter asking me to come get Sarah out of the bar. On the next day she was a single woman again.

I had to keep Sarah at my place for 2 months because she wasn't fine at all. Her eyes were always red and swollen. And I often had to take Judy away from her because every time she carried her she started crying. She got so thin because she refused to eat most of the time. We spent two months that seemed like a lifetime.

In December, Sarah began to recover, and by the end of the year she was healthy again and got back to work. She moved back to her mother's house, so she could do all of her activities again while her mother watched Judy. She always visited me and told me how she was doing.

Sarah was always interested in politics, and she had always wanted to be a diplomat . On the 18th of March she came to me and told me that she applied for a job in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and was accepted. In fact I was shocked. I knew she was interested in politics but I never thought she'd do that. However, I felt happy as, for the first time, I knew her life was getting better than it used to be when she got married to George and gave up on her ambitions.

Sarah left her job at the Canadian embassy and focused on her new job. She got promoted so fast that she became an adviser of the minister in less than six months. In October 2007 she led a delegation to Europe and Canada to work against an American policy that threatened Syria. Her mission succeeded and she was awarded by the President. On the 17th of March, 2008 she was appointed as the Syrian ambassador in Ottawa.

Life is really strange, and it's so hard to understand it. I think most of us don't know what the good or what the bad things are. When we see someone who has a good job and a wonderful family, we think that losing what they have is the end of their life. However, Sarah wouldn't have succeeded the way she did if George hadn't left her; she would've had an ordinary life. I once asked her if she still hated George and her answer was "I'm grateful for him because when I lost him, I won myself".

March 2008

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