ALOUSH

My sweet, sweet baby bro, ALOUSH, has bid farewell to this dull world…

He gave us his years two months ago at the mere age of twenty-one.

Filled with ambition and potential…

Filled with hopes and dreams…

Filled with love and compassion…

Filled with beauty and presence…

Yearning to learn more,

Aching to succeed, and

Craving to better this world…

His time may have been short, but his impact was infinite.

I’ll never forget this summer, when he told Ahmad and I the reason he gave his money to charity. The story began with his final year thesis… We all know how horrible it is to be locked in a room for hours, struggling with large amounts of information, and attempting to put pen to paper with major writer’s block. Well, Ali was all set on taking the easy way out by finding someone to write his final year thesis with the exchange of money.

Two weeks before the deadline, his guilty conscience took over. I observed him, secluded; laptop geared up, books ubiquitously, and let me not forget his famous earplugs were back in use to tune Sam and me out, of course.

He worked hard for two weeks straight and ACED his paper. On his return to Lebanon, he got his money back and gave it all away. Whilst driving Ahmad and I back home, he affectionately explained how his intentions were unethical to begin with, and therefore he felt the money should be spent on a good deed, such as feeding and sheltering people in need.

I walked away that evening, smiling with pride…I was so proud of my baby brother and the man he had become… And would become…I finally felt I no longer had to worry about my brother. Having such strong principles, beliefs, and knowledge, I was certain that he was on the right path and he would make sure Ahmad followed…

BY DARINE AFIF AHMAD