On living in Lebanon today

Every day we interact with others, sometimes unwillingly, undeservedly and reluctantly, not realizing that others’ demeanor, their dismissive arrogance, passive aggression and deep-seated but well camouflaged resentments, that their well-spring of inner anger emanating from their damaged and abused inner child, actually affects us all and turns us all as a society into a closed circuit of sorts pumping electrifying vitriol with every utterance, every body movement, every inflection in speech. What a sad state to be in.

A friend of mine recently returned from Dubai after his first visit their. He was smitten by the place, the shinning tall buildings, the wide streets, the plethora of entertainment options, but most of all he was struck by how respectfully people interacted with one another. For a man born and raised in Lebanon this was a revelation of sorts. While his first exposure to the sauna-like atmosphere of 'planet Dubai' as he stepped off the plane made him think "what did I get myself into", climate quickly became a secondary consideration as he realized that the Emirate with its youthful and vibrantly electrifying multicultural social scene, its polite and considerate food service workers, its welcoming smiles at the airport was all in sharp contrast to Lebanon. He decided that it was where he wanted to live and raise a family, a course he set himself on forthwith.

It's really quiet simple, the reality of Lebanon no longer matches the idealized vision of the country in the minds of its young, if it ever did that is. At one point people could convince themselves that in time their war weary country would climb out of its national doldrums, overcome its innate systemic corruption and culture of shortchanging, but now the hope of better things to come is all but gone. Even the most optimistic are rather pessimistic these days about the country's future. And, as such, we keep losing our best and brightest to countries that are willing to adopt them and take them in. Perhaps for the first time we realize that we are orphans, Stateless, like a homeless person living in the burned out shell of a home, we live in the gutted remains of a State that may soon exist in name only.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Adultery and the western media's attitude towards Dubai

Here we go again... another British woman charged with adultery in Dubai and the whole of the British and UAE press jump all over it as if its the scoop of the season. I wonder what readers think and in particular British readers? Do they feel ashamed that a compatriot is behind bars because she could not control her animal urges? Well they should be, because this is far from a crime she committed against her husband, with whom she exchanged marital vows, it is a crime against the laws of the UAE. It shows a total lack of regard and respect for the traditions of this conservative Muslim country and it is a slap in the face of every Emirati. Why does the press seem compelled to give such people extensive coverage? One hopes to enlighten the British public as to the pitfalls of sleeping around and its legal repercussions, but in truth its all about money, headlines and a public hungry to devour such shameful scandal. The press are complicit with the mob in elevating such individuals, who
Read more

Orosdi-Back: A lost Beyrouth department store from an elegant age

Image
My mother told me it was located on ‘ Banks Street ’ in Down Town Beirut , the road that leads up to Riad el Solh Square . On most maps the street is also named after Riad el Solh. The store was located opposite Bank Intra, or so I was told. Presumably the location of the store was indicative of the high end goodies on sale inside. The closest comparison to Orosdi Back is the old Allied’s department store in Dubai , for those who remember Dubai in the 1980s. But Orosdi Back was a store from a different age, an age of elegance as opposed to the vulgar modern excesses of the nouveau-riche, something Beirut ’s Down Town is synonymous with! A wonderful blog dubbed ‘language hat’ published some information about the founders of this chain of department stores. According to the blog the chain of stores came about as a result of a partnership between Adolf Orosdi, a Hungarian army officer and his sons who opened a clothing store in Galata in 1855, and the Back family, who were Austro-H
Read more

Lebanon searching for deliverance from the wolves of war, chaos and collapse

Image
There is little to do in Lebanon, little paid work to be done, and what work there is, is pointless and poorly paid. Here we live in the hope that we shall eventually be delivered from the monsters, the wolves of our Lebanese government, Cabinet and Parliament and all the power-brokers that manipulate our lives. I once asked a political science professor “why do politicians always wear suits and ties?” He answered jokingly: “so you don’t see their snake’s skin”, I guess if they wore hats it would be so we don’t see their devil’s horns, or is that meant only for men of the cloth…?   Regardless of which political side you ask about our country’s future, the answer would likely be the same, that things are looking bleak and the blame is always laid at the door of the “other side”, because your interlocutor will never make the mistake of accepting that his/her side shares any of the blame for catastrophe. Lebanese society remains highly polarized politically and ideologically. Archaic reli
Read more