A True "Romeo and Juliet" Story...

We've all grown up hearing the tragedy of the Shakespeare's young lovers that was written over 400 years ago. The story: Romeo and Juliet is about "two star-crossed lovers in the depths of forbidden love despite an ancient family feud". The story ends with the deaths of the lovers.

Do you think Shakespeare would possibly surmise that over 400 years later, his story would become a reality? Yes, in 2014, there is a true Romeo and Juliet story and it starts in rural Afghanistan in the town of Bamian (not quite Verona, is it?).  

18 year old Zakia and 21 year old Mohammad Ali, both children of farmers, have fallen in love. This would seem to be an easy story in which two adults who have fallen in love should marry and live happily ever after, but such is not the case, because Zakia and Mohammad Ali live in a country which has not yet gotten out of the 15th century. You see, Mohammad Ali is a Hazara (a Shia Muslim) and Zakia is a Tajik (a Sunni Muslim), which is apparently part of the problem - as these two factions cannot live in harmony with each other (sound familiar? The Capulets and the Montagues?).  Additionally, this is a country in which arranged marriages are still the norm. As a result of all this issues, these two lovers are forbidden to wed and are being threatened with death on a daily basis by members of their own families. Zakia is currently hiding in a local woman's shelter in fear of her life, but will not give up on her dream of marrying her love. There isn't an end to the story, but I am hoping that it will be a happier ending than the one in which Shakespeare wrote.

I found the story on the New York Times website and it just breaks my heart. You can read the full text of the story here. I want to be able to do something to help these young lovers, but I cannot. I can only keep following the story and hope that true love will prevail. This is an untenable situation where two grown adults cannot decide who they can or cannot marry.

Then again this is a country in which a 14-year-old girl who had been raped by an old man and the court has ordered both of them tried for adultery and dropped the rape charge. While the U.S. is far from perfect, at least the justice system  is moderately more evolved that most of the countries in the Middle East. 

To Zakia and Mohammad Ali: keep fighting the good fight!

4/22/14 Update: Zakia and Mohammad Ali married. Check out this blog post.