What It Means to be a Kuwaiti Patriot

In my previous post I searched through Youtube Videos for a long time to find the right clips to support this post. 

Lately we've been bombarded with speeches and gestures that speak to the tune of "Kuwaiti Patriotism" and "Love of Kuwait" and "Kuwait for Kuwaitis" and all that, but I haven't seen or heard of any activity or event that accurately summarizes what it means to be a Kuwaiti.

It's not about 'my government is democratically elected', or 'freedom of speech', especially as both these perks are swiftly being reduced to nothing more than liabilities punishable by fines and prison terms!

Nor is it about splurging your cash on foam, water pistols and spray cans, and creating havoc in the streets, or chasing after the opposite sex at their behest! Nor is it about the house with the best-dressed flag or lights, nor about whose kids look the cutest in the national colours!

It's about respecting those that came before us, who crossed the seas and deserts to find the best place to bring up a family. It's about revering those that welcomed the downtrodden and betrayed and brought them into their homes, and helped build Kuwait into the city we see it today.

It's about our forefathers who dived into the deeps of the Indian Ocean and the Arabian Gulf and fought off sharks and other predators for six months every year so that they can cater to their families back home. 

It's about our forefathers who fought the harsh and unyielding desert climates and reached Kuwait, only to start caravan trading with other ports and make a life for their loved ones.

It's about our forefathers who struggled with the Government in order to initiate the Kuwaiti Constitution, which ratified the Kuwaiti Identity and Way of Life.

More to the point, it's about those martyrs who fought and died so that we may live today and enjoy the fruits of their sacrifices, and honour their memories in return, the martyrs of the Iraqi Occupation. 

About 4'500 Kuwaiti soldiers died fighting the Iraqi Invasion during the first few hours of August 2nd 1990, and we remember them with spray cans and foam??

Thousands of Kuwaiti civilians died at the hands of Iraqis resisting the Occupation, either with weapons or with words and deeds, and we honour their sacrifices by chasing women around in the streets??

It's not a shame, it's  blasphemy! If you're old enough to read this blog, you're old enough to understand the difference between right and wrong. Here's some food for thought;

During the Occupation, a man named Ahmed Qabazard was captured while fighting with the Kuwaiti resistance. Because he refused to give up his resistance cell, he was tortured, had his eyes gouged out, and was shot at the doorsteps of his home in front of his family. 

During the Occupation, a woman named Asrar Al Qabandi was tortured and killed because she refused to give up the members of her resistance cell. 

To date, the fate of the remaining 605 Missing POW's that were taken from Kuwait during the Occupation is yet to be determined.

To date, some MP's are fighting the government in order to change everything those martyrs fought and died for, namely the Kuwaiti Way of Life, and some of us are helping them to do so.

 We should do better to our country that what we're doing right now.

In closing, Have a Happy National & Liberation Day, and please don't forget Kuwait's Martyrs and POW's in your prayers.