Al-Watan I ACCIDENTALLY watched a short scene from the serial titled "Yarait" and saw a woman angrily advancing toward actress Muna Wasif, who was sitting in a disorganized garden whose trees and plants were not properly arranged. The glittering star was sitting in a white but dirty chair. There was a young woman beside Muna and I do not know what role she played in the scene except her virtuous silence and a cry at the end of the scene. The story begins with the woman shouting at Muna asking her to get out of the house. Muna stood dumbfounded hearing the strong and shocking words and she was found holding on to the chair. I still remember the words uttered by that sad woman because for days she was unable to sleep after her daughter had run away to Beirut with her young lover. After hearing those gruesome words I changed the channel and did not see the remaining scenes. I saw the camera focusing on Muna's facial features as she fell down and died within five seconds, which shocked the young woman who kept weeping because of the depressed woman's chilling words. After watching the violent scene, you will see all the pictures like mere lifeless black dots. I contemplated on the woman's shouting, tears and the fear she had about her daughter, which brought forth my sentiments. Soon after changing the channel I heard the horrific news from Al-Ahsa by phone: a 30-year-old Saudi woman murdered the daughter of her husband. The girl, six-year-old Reem Al-Rushaidy, was slaughtered by her stepmother in front of her school and the motive is still unknown. Social media activists are still asleep without making any comment on the repulsive incident to remove the dust from our eyes. May be they are still trying to link the incident with a man like they did in the past when they encouraged young girls to run away from homes. They have applauded the running away of teenager Shahd to Georgia and called for removing the guardianship of her father, saying it should be restricted to caring minors and solemnizing marriage. I don't think Saudi women are wandering in Kingdom's cities and villages holding a document from the Justice Ministry to prove that they are under the authority of men. I am still looking for a social media hashtag to remove the guardianship of father's wives in order to maintain peace and tranquility in our society. Although the killings of children have not taken the dimension of a phenomenon, the number of such incidents is growing all over the Arab world. We have read that a woman in Egypt killed her daughter to teach her husband a lesson for divorcing her. Similar murders were committed by men to torture their divorced wives. Saudi Arabia has witnessed several such painful incidents in recent years and men and women should be equally blamed for it. Such incidents are mainly caused by drug addiction and use of liquor and other intoxicants by one of the parents or conflicts between them. Separated parents torture their children to harm the feelings of the other party. Police have arrested the woman who killed Reem and launched an investigation after putting her behind bars. The issue is more serious than what we think. The cries of Reem when she was mercilessly murdered in front her school would remain echoed in the ears of its students throughout their lives. They will be afraid whether they would also have the same fate at the hands of a woman relative. I know the feelings of those children and they will be asking several questions and they will never forget the scene of Reem's murder. Mothers will find it difficult to answer the questions of Reem's school mates. Most of them will not be able to accept death or loss of their loved ones. Now the main role of Reem Al-Rushaidy's school manager and teachers would be to cool down the minds of those bewildered children, without a hashtag to cancel the guardianship of father's wives. It makes us happy and optimistic that they are still many good people in our society and country.
