Romeo and Juliet of our time
This case should never have come to trial. This case is as simple as black and white. One can come across such situations everyday of his life. Today, there are no rigid and strong barriers which don’t allow young people to make a family. It is a possible thing, be he any colour of the rainbow, be he a muslim or a Christian, rich or on the contrary, poor; no matter how fine a family he or she comes from. Love is beyond everything.
The situation, which I’m going to describe, is one of them. As it was mentioned, this case should never have come to the higher institutions. As you see, today, Meriam is on the place of defendant, but she could have been at home with her family: with daughter and beloved husband Dima. But destiny decided to try her. In order to make this situation clear let me describe it in short.
Meriam comes from very religious muslim family. Her father is very religious man, so the girl was brought up in a religious way. She was allowed everything, she had everything she wanted: and beautiful clothes, and jewelery, and many other things. At the year of her majority she happened to meet young fellow, Dima by name. He was Russian. It happened so, that young people felt in love with each other. Everything was O’K until Meriam’s parents didn’t find out their relationship. It was as a thunderstorm on a fine weather.
What did her father do? We don’t know exactly, but he did what any respectable religious man would do under the circumstances-he said “No” and forbade them to meet again, because she was a muslim girl, and he is Russian. Several months passed: they could not forget each other. And one day Dima made up his mind to ask Meriam to go with him and live together.
Meriam was happy to hear it and they began to live together. Meriam’s parents gave up her and their relationship was broken. Dima’s parents, on the contrary, liked her very much and considered Meriam to be their daughter. It was love that motivated her. She has committed no crime; she has merely broken a rigid and time-honored code of muslim people. She was the victim of love. She knew full well the enormity of her behavior, but because her desires were stronger than the code she was breaking, she persisted in breaking it. She did something that in their religion is unspeakable: she married a Christian man.
Life went on and after a year Meriam bore a child-a girl. These were the happiest days in the life of the family. Everything was all right until there came a day to give the baby a name. There appeared a lot of problems connected with name, with religion. Dima wanted to name his daughter Kate, but Meriam, being a Muslim girl, didn’t want to name her baby in a Russian way. There were a lot of scandals, quarrels, but in spite of everything, they couldn’t come to a definite conclusion. At last, Meriam couldn’t stand it any more and run away taking her baby and not saying anything to her family.
In this place it should be mentioned that Dima’s mother was a judge in city court. Dima was the only child in the family, so his parents wanted to bring their granddaughter back. They found Meriam and asked her to come to the court.
Today is the hearing of this case. Meriam was allowed to have a court-appointed defence. A court appointed Mr. Jefferson, an experienced lawyer and very clever man, to defend Meriam. From the fist minutes, the lawyer was sure that he would win. Everything is solves not only by the judge, it is the jury who decide. The lawyer took the floor and he was speaking for a long time for the benefit of the defence. Let me give a short passage from his speech to the jury.
“Gentlemen, jury and a respected judge. Today, we came to this room, in order to make clear the guilt of this young woman, who is charged with kidnapping. She was indicted by the father of the child, i.e. by husband and is now on trial for her life”.
“Gentlemen, I’ll be brief, but I would like to use my remaining time with you to remind you that this case is not a difficult one as it seems to be. It could have been solved between wife and husband. But, unfortunately, in our society there is a tendency to think that people from higher institutions can do everything with all men they want. This case can server as an example to my words. Everything could have been settled, it only needed time. As they say, young people may guerilla and come to one conclusion.”
“But gentlemen, I’m here to defend my defendant. As far as I’m able to judge I think that it was her religious upbringing that leads Meriam, because she was a muslim girl. She wanted to keep the traditions of her nation, name the baby as muslim women. She wanted her to know tatar as well as she does. She wanted her baby to be proud of the traditions and the religion of Muslims. She didn’t want her to be ashamed of saying “I’m tatar.” I think, that Meriam did everything from positive motives.”
“Respected jury, please, weigh all “for” and “against” and make a right verdict. I’m confident that you, gentlemen, will review without passion the evidence you’ve heard, come to a decision and restore this woman to her daughter. In the name of God, do your duty. Today this woman is on your hands and not only she, but her baby too. Their future destiny depends on your decision”.
“Of course, I agree that people are not equal. I mean not equal in their position in the society. We know all men are not created equal in the sense some people would have us believe. Some people are smarter that the others, some have more opportunity because they are born with it, some men make more money than others; some ladies make better cakes than other ones. But there is one way in the world in which all men are created equal- there is one human institution that makes a beggar the equal of a businessman, the stupid man the equal of the clever one. This place, gentlemen, is a court. In our courts all men are created equal. Don’t forget it!”
The lawyer finished his speech and it seemed to everybody to be the best speech of the barrister.
The jury went to make its verdict. There were tears in the eyes of some members of the jury. After 20 minutes the court began its work. The foreman handed a piece of paper to the judge. All people looked forward to hear the main words. And everyman was happy to hear “Not guilty…Meriam is not guilty”.
Meriam couldn’t believe her ears, her heart was not beating in its usual way. She is not guilty. She is acquitted. She couldn’t help crying.
Here her beloved daughter. Parents met her at the court’s doors and invited her to come home and live together as earlier. They forgave her.
During the court, Meriam has thought a lot about her destiny. Yes, they loved each other very much, they had thoughts concerning their future, but everything came to its end. Why did it happen so? Where was their mistake? May be it was their youth who was to blame. When she run away with Dima, she even couldn’t imagine what king of problems and difficulties would wait her in such mixed marriage. But now, everything is in the past. Let her lead a quite and happy life. As they say “All men are able to error. The man who makes no mistakes doesn’t usually make anything.” This case should be the lesson for the other girls. Before doing something they should think deeply, look through all for and against and only then make serious decisions, because a mixed marriage is not like a usual marriage. It has its own faults and merits. It is not use to hurry, as Heraclitus said “One can’t come into the same water twice.” We live only once, let’s make our life worthy.
The situation, which I’m going to describe, is one of them. As it was mentioned, this case should never have come to the higher institutions. As you see, today, Meriam is on the place of defendant, but she could have been at home with her family: with daughter and beloved husband Dima. But destiny decided to try her. In order to make this situation clear let me describe it in short.
Meriam comes from very religious muslim family. Her father is very religious man, so the girl was brought up in a religious way. She was allowed everything, she had everything she wanted: and beautiful clothes, and jewelery, and many other things. At the year of her majority she happened to meet young fellow, Dima by name. He was Russian. It happened so, that young people felt in love with each other. Everything was O’K until Meriam’s parents didn’t find out their relationship. It was as a thunderstorm on a fine weather.
What did her father do? We don’t know exactly, but he did what any respectable religious man would do under the circumstances-he said “No” and forbade them to meet again, because she was a muslim girl, and he is Russian. Several months passed: they could not forget each other. And one day Dima made up his mind to ask Meriam to go with him and live together.
Meriam was happy to hear it and they began to live together. Meriam’s parents gave up her and their relationship was broken. Dima’s parents, on the contrary, liked her very much and considered Meriam to be their daughter. It was love that motivated her. She has committed no crime; she has merely broken a rigid and time-honored code of muslim people. She was the victim of love. She knew full well the enormity of her behavior, but because her desires were stronger than the code she was breaking, she persisted in breaking it. She did something that in their religion is unspeakable: she married a Christian man.
Life went on and after a year Meriam bore a child-a girl. These were the happiest days in the life of the family. Everything was all right until there came a day to give the baby a name. There appeared a lot of problems connected with name, with religion. Dima wanted to name his daughter Kate, but Meriam, being a Muslim girl, didn’t want to name her baby in a Russian way. There were a lot of scandals, quarrels, but in spite of everything, they couldn’t come to a definite conclusion. At last, Meriam couldn’t stand it any more and run away taking her baby and not saying anything to her family.
In this place it should be mentioned that Dima’s mother was a judge in city court. Dima was the only child in the family, so his parents wanted to bring their granddaughter back. They found Meriam and asked her to come to the court.
Today is the hearing of this case. Meriam was allowed to have a court-appointed defence. A court appointed Mr. Jefferson, an experienced lawyer and very clever man, to defend Meriam. From the fist minutes, the lawyer was sure that he would win. Everything is solves not only by the judge, it is the jury who decide. The lawyer took the floor and he was speaking for a long time for the benefit of the defence. Let me give a short passage from his speech to the jury.
“Gentlemen, jury and a respected judge. Today, we came to this room, in order to make clear the guilt of this young woman, who is charged with kidnapping. She was indicted by the father of the child, i.e. by husband and is now on trial for her life”.
“Gentlemen, I’ll be brief, but I would like to use my remaining time with you to remind you that this case is not a difficult one as it seems to be. It could have been solved between wife and husband. But, unfortunately, in our society there is a tendency to think that people from higher institutions can do everything with all men they want. This case can server as an example to my words. Everything could have been settled, it only needed time. As they say, young people may guerilla and come to one conclusion.”
“But gentlemen, I’m here to defend my defendant. As far as I’m able to judge I think that it was her religious upbringing that leads Meriam, because she was a muslim girl. She wanted to keep the traditions of her nation, name the baby as muslim women. She wanted her to know tatar as well as she does. She wanted her baby to be proud of the traditions and the religion of Muslims. She didn’t want her to be ashamed of saying “I’m tatar.” I think, that Meriam did everything from positive motives.”
“Respected jury, please, weigh all “for” and “against” and make a right verdict. I’m confident that you, gentlemen, will review without passion the evidence you’ve heard, come to a decision and restore this woman to her daughter. In the name of God, do your duty. Today this woman is on your hands and not only she, but her baby too. Their future destiny depends on your decision”.
“Of course, I agree that people are not equal. I mean not equal in their position in the society. We know all men are not created equal in the sense some people would have us believe. Some people are smarter that the others, some have more opportunity because they are born with it, some men make more money than others; some ladies make better cakes than other ones. But there is one way in the world in which all men are created equal- there is one human institution that makes a beggar the equal of a businessman, the stupid man the equal of the clever one. This place, gentlemen, is a court. In our courts all men are created equal. Don’t forget it!”
The lawyer finished his speech and it seemed to everybody to be the best speech of the barrister.
The jury went to make its verdict. There were tears in the eyes of some members of the jury. After 20 minutes the court began its work. The foreman handed a piece of paper to the judge. All people looked forward to hear the main words. And everyman was happy to hear “Not guilty…Meriam is not guilty”.
Meriam couldn’t believe her ears, her heart was not beating in its usual way. She is not guilty. She is acquitted. She couldn’t help crying.
Here her beloved daughter. Parents met her at the court’s doors and invited her to come home and live together as earlier. They forgave her.
During the court, Meriam has thought a lot about her destiny. Yes, they loved each other very much, they had thoughts concerning their future, but everything came to its end. Why did it happen so? Where was their mistake? May be it was their youth who was to blame. When she run away with Dima, she even couldn’t imagine what king of problems and difficulties would wait her in such mixed marriage. But now, everything is in the past. Let her lead a quite and happy life. As they say “All men are able to error. The man who makes no mistakes doesn’t usually make anything.” This case should be the lesson for the other girls. Before doing something they should think deeply, look through all for and against and only then make serious decisions, because a mixed marriage is not like a usual marriage. It has its own faults and merits. It is not use to hurry, as Heraclitus said “One can’t come into the same water twice.” We live only once, let’s make our life worthy.
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