The women’s majlis: The good fight will always continue

Our martyrs have not fallen. On the contrary, their passing increased our drive to protect our country’s borders and very soul.

Who would have thought we would be standing in these shoes once again, waiting for our loved ones to come home from months-long trips, unsure of their safe return and uncertain of their current welfare?

Our story began decades ago, with the same land, the characters and the values, when our grandmothers would bid farewell to brave men who left everything behind in search of pearls and enough fish to live on. Those women they left behind carried all sorts of responsibilities on their shoulders – raising their children and building their tight-knit community, while watching their sons leave, in their fathers’ footsteps, time and again.

The principles that they carried have bloomed once again in this day and age. Their wise stories were passed down like torches.

Sheikh Zayed, the founding President of the UAE, once said that a nation without a past is a nation without a present or a future. Now we find a close connection between these words and why the stories of past generations never stopped being told, and why we need to preserve our values more than ever.

We’re blessed to have grown up in a land that keeps on giving. It’s astonishing how fast our love for this land has grown to contain its people and their guests. It has given us shelter and a bounty of luxuries. Once a year, we celebrate the anniversary of our emirates’ union.

We were taught that we could repay our country by using the world-class education it offered us to contribute to its continuous development. So we took to our desks, soared in airplanes and shaped cement into roads and buildings.

Today, we stand before an unprecedented awakening, unique in its spirit, enchanting in its presence. And although we cannot fathom the prospect of saying any more goodbyes, I have complete faith in the values we’re fighting for – I believe they are worth the good fight. Never did we foresee the day women and men of this country would leave their civilian lives behind, pumped with courage and pride, to serve their country.

We watch them wake up at the crack of dawn, set out with their prayer rugs in hand, heading to the camp, waiting to hear their names being called, wanting to be the first ones learning how to defend the land they hold dear to their hearts.

Our martyrs have not fallen, but risen. The betrayals they paid for will not be a discouragement. On the contrary, their passing increased our drive to protect our country’s borders and very soul. They have handed our bright flag to us in all its glory, calling for us to learn from past hiccups and move forward to win this battle for the greater good, and for us to keep dreaming and achieving with our heads held high, just as theirs were.

Shaima AlShamsi writes stories about fictional towns in Sharjah.

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