Mirror, mirror, on the wall,
Who is the fairest of them all?
Day in and day out we make that multiple contacts with our favorite companion: our mirrors! We are ready to dig deep into our pockets to get out that extra paper bill so that we can stay young and beautiful, stay fashionable in the eyes of others and stay in line with the latest fashion trends, which the houses of haute couture design and create to feed our vanity — every winter, every spring, every summer and fall!
Did we ever stop to think, for just one illuminating moment, where does all that money go? Not likely! Then again, why should we? It is common knowledge that the profits go to the owners, be it one person or many shareholders. After all, they do have the right to spend their money in whichever way they see fit to bring them comfort, pleasure or profit. Is that correct? Then I ask you to think again!
Here, my dear reader, allow me to present you with a wake-up call! No, I’m not going to use my voice. For the honor of your ears, and your ears only, the voices of pain, despair, and slain humanity are going to implore you, to address you. Listen with your heart, your soul, and your conscience to the starving bodies of the weary and old, the cries of the newly born and unborn babies, the burned flesh of the innocent and unarmed. All and more implore you to stop! Yes, you and don’t look surprised, bear with me, let me replace that mirror this once!
For every time you buy that vanity product, that elixir of beauty, you are supporting the oppressors, the assassins, and the cold-blooded killers. You are deeply in the eye of the killing storm!
My dear reader, the money you spend with a smile, the owners of those companies, and with a devilish grim, send them back to your brothers and sisters, to your children, to your honor and dignity, as bullets, guns and bombs. Not only that, but they also back their gifts of terror with wide misleading media coverage and coerced legislative support! Now, tell me again: Whose money enabled them to do that? Yours and mine — to our shame.
In the end, the choice is yours. Is it going to be your vanity or honor, your youth or the future of innocent children, your sweet smell or the stench of burned flesh, your smart wear that lights up the eyes of all those around you with admiration and envy or the phosphorus bombs that light up the skies of the innocents, old, sick and starved civilians with fireworks and a promise of death?
Yes, the choice is yours to boycott now or continue to feed your ego with the blood and flesh of your brothers and sisters. If they are not your brothers and sisters in religion or of the same ethnic background, consider them as part of humanity! Am I loud enough? Am I clear enough? I certainly hope so because enough is enough! Do your own research to find out which brand names support Israel. I do encourage you to do so; you owe it to yourself before anyone else. This way, and through your own efforts, you will be 100 percent sure, when you decide to take an action.
If you decide not to, then let it lay on your conscience that all of the slaughter done are through your money and with your blessing! And dress up your looks with flesh and blood!
— Maysoon A. Dakhiel is an assistant professor, Girls College, King Abdul Aziz University, Jeddah.
