Don’t tell my Mother

The name of the program was so misleading – Don’t tell my Mother. I thought it’s about teenagers and the wild things they do. But I am glad I decided to stick around instead of changing the channel because I couldn’t have been more wrong. It is a series about some of the world’s most dangerous locations – on where else but National Geographic! Last night I saw part of an episode on Gaza.

A shop was shown that specialized in printing the photos of the “martyrs” – such photos could be seen on the street corners everywhere. There, apparently, are numerous shops in Gaza which use guns and assorted weapons as props against which photos can be taken.When the program anchor asked why these young people pose with weapons, a young man present in the shop said that’s because they don’t have anything else to do. A simple answer with a lot of irony!

And if that’s not enough irony for you, then listen to this – the owner explained that he does the photo shoot for members of all the 3 prominent organizations – Fatah, Hamas and Islamic Jihad. He also said that there exists families in which different family members belong to different organizations and yet they all stay under one roof!

For those of you who want to know what’s actually happening in the places that we only read about in newspapers, this program is an eye-opener. Don’t miss it!