Aslan… When a Child Carries His Name Like a Promise to the Future
In the city of Aqaba, where the sea stands beside the horizon and dreams learn how to walk with confidence, the champions of Rosary Sisters School – Aqaba had a presence worthy of young knights. This came during the major sports event organized by Aqaba City Youth Club, under the patronage of His Excellency Minister of Youth, Dr. Raed Sami Al-Adwan, and with the support of His Excellency Chief Commissioner of the Aqaba Special Economic Zone Authority, Shadi Ramzi Al-Majali.
There, between the sound of applause and the silence of meaning, medals were not merely pieces of metal placed around young necks. They became small testimonies that childhood, when given confidence, can turn into strength, and that determination, when born early, can shape a young child into a man of meaning before age makes him one.
My beloved grandson, Aslan Yazan Osama Shakman…
When I saw your name among the names of the champions, I did not read it as just another name on a list of recognition. I read it as a heartbeat from the family, as if time itself was sending me a gentle message: what we plant in our children returns to us in the form of grandchildren who light up the heart.
I spent more than forty years flying through the skies. I saw the earth from heights many people never see, and I learned that true elevation is not made by wings alone. It is made by a steady heart, a calm mind, and a will that knows its direction. Today, as I see you holding your medal, I understand that flying is not only done by airplanes. Some children fly through a smile, through a step, through an achievement, and through a name that leaves a mark on their grandfather’s soul.
Aslan, sport is not a passing game, nor a temporary victory, nor a photo to be posted and forgotten. Sport is an early philosophy of life. It teaches you that the body does not win alone, that strength without manners is only noise, and that real championship is not merely defeating others, but defeating your own fear, laziness, hesitation, and walking out of every training session more aware of yourself than before.
Today, you did not only carry a medal. You carried a beautiful lesson: when a child works hard with honor, people rejoice with sincerity. And when he succeeds with humility, his victory becomes greater than the podium itself.
And I cannot write about you, Aslan, without pausing at your father, Yazan — my third son, and the first of my sons to give me the joy of my first grandson. Your arrival into our lives was not merely the birth of a child; it was the birth of a new meaning in the heart. Since you came, time has carried a different taste, and the family name has found a new extension walking on two small feet, growing before our eyes from one dream into another.
My grandson, always remember that a name does not grow through letters alone. It grows through the character, knowledge, love, and achievements a person leaves behind. And remember that a medal may one day be kept in a box, but the meaning you created through it will remain in the hearts of those who loved you, watched you, and believed in you.
Congratulations to you, Aslan. Congratulations to your parents, to your school, Rosary Sisters School – Aqaba, to your teachers, and to your fellow young champions. Keep moving forward — not to become a copy of anyone else, but to become yourself: a child with innocence in his eyes, determination in his heart, and a promise in his steps that what is coming will be even more beautiful.
As for me, I say this from the heart of a grandfather who has known the sky for many long years, only to discover that the most beautiful altitude in life is to see his grandson rise through character and success:
To Aslan… from your grandfather, who places his name quietly at the end of the line — not as a signature on an article, but as a mark of love that time will never erase: Osama