Thursday, August 03, 2006

My Brave Little Country

What is happening in the world? What is happening to the world? Everyday I see injured people… I see displaced people… I see dying people… and worst of all, I see dying children…

Everywhere I go, I hear people talking about the current situation in Lebanon. Everyone all of a sudden became a political analyst… an economical expert… fortune tellers… We started answering questions like: What do you think will happen? Who do you think will win? How long will it last? Will Hezbollah survive this war? Will Lebanon survive it? Where is Nasrallah now? Who started this war? Israel? Hezbollah? Even I became one of those so-called “experts”!

I remember until three weeks ago, I was considered a “traitor” for wanting peace with Israel. Today, things have changed. I cannot wish for peace with Israel, I can’t even ask for it or dream about it. How can I want that? How can I ask our children to even consider it after all that’s happened until now?

Everyday I am sent horrendous pictures, e-mails and links…. I see sad images of bulldozed villages… heartbreaking ones of flattened homes… I see the gruesome pictures of casualties… I see sickening pictures of young Israeli girls sending “love” messages to Lebanese children on missiles.

How revolting! How repulsive! How can we expect our children to one day even consider putting their hands in the hands of the Israelis in the future? They have killed that dream!

When we lose a loved one from natural causes or accidents, we get angry at nature, we get angry at god, and some of us even lose faith. I wonder now how are we expected to feel when we see our beloved mother, father, sibling or child getting slaughtered in front of our eyes by our fellow man? How can we not want revenge for these massacres? How can we control those raging feelings of anger, wrath, disgust… to say the least!!!



Forgive me for being selfish. Forgive me for wanting to be in my own country, in my own home. Forgive my egocentricity for wanting to be with all my friends, back in my country… Forgive me for wanting to pick up my friend from her place in Hamra, go to Gemmayzeh, park my car and walk down the road to our favorite pub. Forgive me for wanting a peaceful night sleep. Forgive me for wanting my country back… Forgive me for wanting to live.

Our people get killed and they call us terrorists… Our infrastructure gets hit and they call us terrorists… Our civilians are bombed with banned bombs and they us terrorists…. Our stacks of wheat, power and petrol are targeted and they call u terrorists… When we try to defend ourselves they also call us terrorists!!! Can anyone tell me exactly what terrorism is?

What can I tell my almost 5 year old nephew when he comes up to me and asks me “why do the Israelis hate us? Why are they killing us? Who is Hezbollah? Who are the bad guys? Are these real bombs or are they like in the movies? Why are people crying all the time? Are too many people dying? Can’t Superman help the good guys from the naughty ones?” And they call US terrorists?!

Dear everyone, Lebanon will be rebuilt! They will never take away our will to survive… They will never take away our faith in our beautiful country and its brave people. No matter how many bridges they destroy, no matter how many schools they obliterate, no matter how many people they dislocate… We will rebuild… We will restore… We will replace. Lebanon will soon return to be the Jewel of the Middle East it has always been!

(contribution from souraya)

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