A young, pregnant woman from Lebanon fled to the United States — the “Land of Opportunity” — with her husband and family, escaping the horrors of a war-torn homeland. They arrived in America shattered, both emotionally and financially. Struggling to find their footing in a foreign land, they faced a harsh new reality that seemed anything but promising.
One night, the woman had a vivid dream in which she was pregnant with a golden child, a vision that left her both bewildered and conflicted. How could such a dream be true when her family was trapped in the suffocating grip of poverty? The dream felt like a cruel joke, a mockery of her life’s grim circumstances.
Her despair only deepened when her child was born — a boy with a host of physical challenges. He was legally blind, unable to read due to a genetic condition, and flat-footed, which made standing for long periods nearly impossible.
As he grew, it became clear he would never become the doctor, engineer, or police officer she once imagined. He could never drive, a freedom most people took for granted.
The burden of his limitations weighed heavily on her heart, and she began to question not only her dream but her own worth as a mother. To add to the family’s misfortune, her husband was betrayed by his own brothers. They robbed him of his hard-earned money, ousted him from their shared business, and reduced him to the role of a mere servant. This betrayal crushed his spirit, leaving the family even more vulnerable.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2024
The writer is a former press minister to Embassy of Pakistan to France
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