OUTLOOK — By Mohammed Al Balushi — The world is full of stories. There are stories which make you to feel glad and full of pleasure. On the other hand there are stories which make you to feel sorry, and sad. More or less, every story has a voice. Unfortunately, some voices from those stories can be heard while some remain unheard. Don’t you get annoyed when you hear of a wife being mistreated by her husband? Don’t you feel sorry when you hear an employee is sacked from his job without proper justification? Don’t you get frustrated when you see a person seeking support and finds no one? There are people who have the voice to tell the world about what is going on while some are always voiceless and die unheard.
In the current world the news has become one of the important needs of people. People want to know what is happening around them. In fact, it is one of your rights to know the news from around the world. How would you receive that news? How can we judge the authenticity of the news stories? The real role of the media and journalism is to make their presence felt. It was found that in some places the media plays a vital and positive role supporting the voiceless people and the country, while in some others the media itself is voiceless and seeking someone to be its voice.
Truly, journalism is not free of risk. Many journalists have lost their lives just to bring the truth to the attention of the public. Henry Ward Beecher once said; newspapers are the schoolmasters of the common people. The question that has now arisen is whether journalism really is the voice of the voiceless?
It will be really interesting to know who the voiceless people in the world are. In fact, there are many voiceless people in the world. The first person is you. There are women who are suffering for their rights but have no voice. There are children who want to go to school but they don’t have hands and voice. There are of course, old people, refugees, young girls and many others from all races and different languages. Their lives are unnoticed and their stories untold.
A year ago after dropping my family at the Muscat airport I saw a man who arrived in Oman and his next flight was to Salalah. He had missed his flight and now he had to wait for the next flight which was next day. He had already spent one night at the airport because of the same. I felt pity for the man as he did not have anybody at the airport to receive him. He did not know anything about Oman and he could not speak Arabic and English. He was distraught and his eyes were red with lack of sleep.
If that person was you how would you feel and react? If you were that woman who has always been mistreated by the husband what would you do and feel? If you are one of those refugees who does not have food, shelter, water and medicine, how would you feel. If you want to tell your entire story to the world but unable to do so, how would you feel?
Everybody has a story to tell, whether you are a woman, a child, an employee, a refugee and or a citizen. Your story is as important as you are. Just imagine, you are writing your story and before it can be completed you die. Will this be the end of your story? Will someone write about your story? Will the media be your voice and tell the world one day? Just imagine being a voiceless person.
All around the world we find such voiceless women, children, refugees, little girls and many young people and God weeps. Are we willing to weep with Him? Are we willing to act with Him? Are we willing to speak for those who have no voice? Are we willing to be a voice for the voiceless?
