It is 9:30 in the morning…

Si Yahya, a retired man, walks into his usual café.

He calls out to the waiter:

“A pot of mint tea, no sugar please.”

Then he heads to his usual table in the corner.

He takes out his phone, connects to the Wi-Fi, and puts on his reading glasses.

He is checking his Facebook page.

What are people saying?

What have they posted?

What comments have they left?

Anything new?

He opens Facebook and writes:

“As a Moroccan, I hereby declare my full commitment behind the country’s leadership in defending our national territorial integrity.”

After that, he opens an artificial intelligence application.

Such a patriotic post deserves a picture.

So he creates an image of himself wearing a military uniform with the national flag in the background.

The post is now complete.

Text and picture are published on his Facebook timeline.

People start viewing it.

The waiter brings the tea.

The likes 👍 begin pouring in.

The hearts ♥️ keep multiplying.

Comments follow:

First comment:

“We are all soldiers mobilized against the enemies of our territorial unity.”

Second comment:

“Long live the Kingdom of Morocco!”

Third comment:

“Those who talk too much should take their medicine.”

Fourth comment:

“The Sahara belongs to Morocco, and Morocco belongs to its Sahara.”

…

Si Yahya feels proud.

He pours his first glass of tea, admiring the foam and bubbling surface.

Suddenly…

His phone rings.

An unusual occurrence.

It is his son Karim, calling from Spain through a WhatsApp video call.

“Hello, son. Are you alright, Karim?”

Karim is his eldest child.

He emigrated to Spain before the summer of this year.

Since arriving, he has faced one hardship after another: no job, no housing, no money.

Karim breaks down in tears and complains to his father.

Si Yahya stops drinking his tea.

His appetite disappears immediately.

“Dad… there’s nothing left I can do. I want to come back home. Things are too hard here. I swear I can’t even find a place to sleep…”

Si Yahya gets angry.

All the money and effort he spent helping his son emigrate abroad cannot, in his mind, go to waste.

His blood pressure rises.

He shouts into the phone:

“What’s wrong with you? Aren’t you a man? All your friends managed to survive! Don’t you dare come back, for God’s sake!”

Then he abruptly ends the WhatsApp call, leaving his son crying on the other side.

He returns to his glass of tea.

And to his Facebook post.

Meanwhile, the likes and comments continue to multiply.

The latest comment reads:

“The message has been delivered… Long live the nation!”

By Mounir El Ghiouani

07/11/2026