My Boyfriend and Her Boyfriend

The other day I was feeling bored, so I decided to listen to different radios in Jordan to see what they have on nowadays. I was checking Rotana in Jordan and it just happened that they had a night show called Ya Msahharni يا مسهرني presented by the Lebanese Elie Faris. The show’s target audience is the youth, and it serves as an outlet for their daily problems. The topic being discussed on that particular day was Cheating.

There was a phone call from a girl called Meeso whose age I guessed was no more than 16. She turned out to be 15. Even though she clearly is not Lebanese, she was speaking in a very fake Lebanese accent. Apparently, she had called the show a week earlier and told people her story: She was in love with a great guy. This week she called again saying that she lied about being in love. Why? Because her best friend’s boyfriend confessed his love to her, and because she did not want to get in trouble with her best friend, she decided to call the show and admit that she is in love (Knowing that her best friend’s boyfriend listens to the show). This way she does not have to confront him. If he thinks she is in love he, then will leave her alone.

Now let us focus on finding answers to the following questions:

1. What is it about the Lebanese accent that makes it so appealing?
2. Why, at 11 PM, is a 15 year-old girl calling a show that she should not even be listening to?
3. Where are the parents?
4. Why does the girl have a boyfriend?
5. Why does the girl’s best friend have a boyfriend?
6. Most important of all, if the guy really does listen to the show, then he heard the girl say that she is in love and then refute it in less than a week. Well, this means her plan fails, no? A lot of lying here. Not good. At all.

The girl also said that many of her friend’s boyfriends either saw her or spoke to her on the phone, and they all fell in love with her to the point where she decided to just cut them off and stop talking to any guys at all. She also left her ‘original’ boyfriend.

To be honest, my initial thought was that the girl was making the story up because she wanted some attention for herself. A mere cry for attention. I do not know if I should be feeling sad and pity the girl for the silly atmosphere she is in, or if I should be angry because she has no guidance, or if I should just simply laugh at the coming tragedy we call generation.

Another call was made by a girl -in her early twenties- who was having a dilemma; she is in love with a married man. HELLO! DOES THE WORD FAMILY NOT MAKE YOU BACK OFF ALREADY? The way she was speaking was absolutely pathetic. What made things worse is that her own sister was encouraging her to keep in touch with the man.

At some point, I felt that the liberal and open-minded presenter was in shock. I was at a loss of words as well because I was looking for some light fun and ended up listening to whatever I listened to.

On the phones, when the voices get softer, and the girls become more tender as if on the verge of crying … You know something is wrong.

PROTECT YOUR KIDS, they are your responsibility.

* I left some parts of the phone call out, too ridiculous to share.