Illustrated by: Eyad
My Facebook Messenger is Like Joha's nail
My Facebook messenger is
like Joha’s nail!
Of course, some of you won't have any idea
what I’m talking about. Who is Joha? What's wrong with his nail? And what does
that have to do with my Facebook messenger?
So, let's start with my Facebook messenger. I
was checking my Facebook messages, and I usually look at the inbox, but lately,
I found that there was another section named as ”others,” and this is where you
get messages from folks you are not a friend with.
When I opened the ”other” message box, I found
tens of messages including ads, profanities, and ” Hi, what’s up? What's your
name and what you do?” kind of messages and one last message I just got from a
coworker who I used to work with for not less than two years.
I may confuse people’s names, jobs, or
whatever, but I never forget how they made me once feel.
All I remembered when I saw her message, I had
had a feeling of discomfort. An unexplainable pain in the chest after seeing
her message. The way she turned my boss against me, the way she babbled mouth
me behind my back and how she envied me even after I quit the whole thing. I’m
not saying she was terrible, not at all, but what I mean to say that not every
follower is a liker. She was a follower of mine, and it turned out that she
wasn't a liker. Some folks would follow you to check if they still doing better
than you, and they would continue to support you as long as you are not up to
the hype, or maybe you are out of their league, but once you are out, then you
are done with them. And, it’s not you, it’s them who weren’t friends. Next
time, try not to be too trusty 😊
I opened her message, I read it, and three
years later I have blocked her to say ” I’m letting you see and watch whatever
I want you to, and I think that's enough for now!”
And regarding Joha, Joha is considered one of
the most featured comedians in the Arab humorous literature. He was well known
for his funny tales and stories that were supposed to teach the reader a vital
lesson in the end.
Joha’s nail is a famous story that turned out
to be a proverb we -Arabs used to mention whenever someone is trying to reach
out to you after a long period of time where you no longer friends with him or
her and he/she is finding excuses or new ways to reconnect and make an ongoing
relationship with you after cutting it for years already.
Joha in his story used to hammer a nail in the wall right before selling his property; then after selling his property, he
came over to visit the new owners every single day to ask them never to pull
the nail away from the wall. Every day he came over to check the hammered nail,
so the owners felt obliged to have him over for dinner as his visit
usually coincided with their dinner time.
We as-Arabs usually feel
ashamed if we have a guest coming over, and we did never share a meal or offer
a treat for the guest. So, Joha knew it, and he found his hammered nail a
brilliant excuse for coming over for a FREE meal likewise my ex-coworker has
used my Facebook messenger as a way to reconnect with me, though we no longer
have something in common nor a good memory.
So, sometimes my Facebook messenger -to some
folks is like Joha’s nail!
