Okaz

ACCORDING to Al-Arabiya.net, a Saudi citizen has filed a complaint at a court of law against an expatriate who crushed an ant right in front of his eyes in Afif town.

The plaintiff said in his complaint that the ant is a creature of God and therefore has the right to live like all other creatures.

The judge told him that his complaint was accepted in his capacity as a representative of the poor ant but asked him if he had the power of attorney from the family of the deceased ant to file a lawsuit on its behalf.

The citizen said when he filed the complaint, he was faced with strong opposition and criticism from the court employees and other citizens but was still adamant to go ahead with the lawsuit.

I personally believe that the search for the family of the ant is an impossible task. Even if the citizen limited his search to the ant hole nearest to the crime scene, it would be practically impossible for him to obtain a power of attorney from the ant›s relatives.

The citizen, instead, could have said in his complaint that he was psychologically pained by the crime committed by the expatriate who himself was a victim of crushing.

If the judge refused to accept this logic, the citizen could then write to the Shoura Council to propose a draft resolution that would prevent harassing the ants.

The procedures might be long and protracted in this case but they still remain to be easier than looking for the close relatives of the ant.

I do not, of course, agree to the crushing of the ant, may God have mercy on her soul, and I do not deny the citizen›s right to resort to the law but I am unable to sympathize with this case because the reservoir of the sympathy inside my heart has depleted because of the numerous incidents of crushing in this universe.

Human beings, animals and plants have been crushed and burned down on the outskirts of this terrifying universal forest.

Millions of people died when the roofs of their houses fell on their heads much more than the drops of rain. There are numerous pale faces at airports, police checkpoints, refugee camps, immigration offices, corridors of ministries, hospital emergency wards and the cold caves on mountaintops.

All these underdogs are being crushed every day without anybody caring for them. They, no doubt, deserve our sympathy and support.

The whales that die in the oceans due to malicious hunting and pollution, all the elephants that die in the forests under the guns of poachers, the lizards in our desert that die from car exhausts and the beautiful trees that are suffocated by the garbage of picnickers all deserve sympathy and support.

It is obvious that the stock of sympathy in my heart and the hearts of many other people has run out because of what is going on around us in the world. So there is no sympathy left for the poor ant.