A new year.

What is really new about it?

Every time we try something new, we acknowledge the importance of the old.

Considering the fact that we work for our chicken and we feed on their productivity,

 I ask – with the innocence of children- do these chicken know how much we suffer to provide them a decent living?

Here I remember our dear old friend Dr. Mannoush Qalil who is an expert in communicating with animals and their needs and I asked him for a detailed summary about the life of these birds and about what their needs and expectations of the new year might be.

And when Dr. Mannoush Qalil gave me the report, I wasn’t very surprised because I anticipated most of the facts, but what really shocked me was the fact that birds do not fear death.

If ever asked about a new year, birds will not even understand the question.

This might be a silly question since most of the birds won’t survive to welcome a new year.

The next question was more specific, do birds want to know their fate or even worry about their near future? Do they have any special wishes?

And the answer was – in a witty indifference – why would we care about that while we all know that in any moment they can gather us without a prior notice and send us to be slaughtered and served to the Gods of this universe?

-Don’t you fear death?

- Why would we fear it? Our spirits will fly high like birds amongst the stars.

Here, my memory began to wander into numerous studies and research written by scholars and senior professors on the subject of fear, which can be summed up in few words: “Fear rules the world.” Were it not for fear, no ruler could have ruled…no officer could have ordered…no judge could have judged….

Fear governs us

The fear of almost everything except the fear of God Almighty that is slowly fading away… Fear is the one thing that humiliates a person.

Fear of death drives a person into choosing poverty and slavery to those who are in control. Do we not see what is happening around us? Don’t we see the executions, torture and beheadings? We live with fear, we eat with fear, we sleep with fear…

Let us say it frankly, fear governs us all, the young and the elderly.

Is it possible for our chicken not to be scared?

And my crazy wishes for the coming year are that our chicken will be right and that their souls will fly through the infinite space…

Perhaps we may envy them for the life they’re leading… their food, drink and shelter are all secure…and their souls will fly in space…

So why and who should they be afraid of?