Dear Memories

Yesterday I sat down running over the album of my old photos when my children gathered around me to congratulate me on the workers’ day…

I show them some of the old photos of our celebrations on Labor Day in the past years… In the early days of my job…

There are a lot of old photos that tell about the labor marches touring Damascus and how we were gathering in one of the squares where speeches were delivered and outstanding workers and heroes of production were honored.

Other photos shows those celebrations that were held in one of the industrial facilities where workers meet from all over the city and talk about their achievements in the work, their rights and the privileges that the state provides them.

We were meeting the heroes of production in all sectors of government.

We commend them and took commemorative photos while we were interviewing them. Those were my first activities in my work in the newspaper.

I was stunned when I saw these heroes in their factories working their best to produce excellent and competitive goods that strengthen the country’s economy.

We see them every day among us, but we do not know exactly how much fatigue they suffer in their factories and jobs.

We can never imagine the amount of sweat and effort that accompany every commodity produced by them to reach the citizen with the lowest costs and the finest specifications….

In all of our photos, the smile was the title and optimism was the hallmark of all the faces.

I shed tears as I was watching the television and the photos that my husband brought during his recent tour in Aleppo showing the destroyed factories in Aleppo, the workers who had lost their jobs and the families that had lost the fathers and the breadwinners as a result of the barbarian terrorism.

My young daughter wiped my tears and said: “Do not be sad. You always say that tomorrow will be sweeter. We will build our homeland and restore it as safe and beautiful as it was before it was destroyed by the hands of those criminals.”

I told her: “yes, this is true, but those who sacrificed their blood and souls for the sake of their home will not be here to witness the return of security, stability and prosperity to the country again.

This worker who had lost his life in pursuit of a better tomorrow for his family and his country. He was sweating yet he was happy. Nothing could disturb his life. He was not afraid of his future or the future of his family since he was living under the sovereignty of a state that sanctifies work, respects the worker and protects his rights and the rights of his family.

Amal Farhat -from Homs to Syria Times