Lebanon: Everyone has phones no one picks up!

Why do the Lebanese think it's ok to not answer their mobile phone, why do they think it's ok to refuse your call, the equivalent of someone in the old days of land line picking up the headset and slamming it back down, have the rules of social conduct changed so much when I wasn't looking?! Is being rude and having bad manners now so common that it has become the accepted norm?! All I know is someone calls you you answer, or if you're really busy you put the phone on silent, let it ring until it stops, then, when you are no longer busy, you call back. Or, if you really don't want to talk to someone, send them an email or message politely asking that they stop calling you. Under no circumstances is slamming the line shut an acceptable mode of behaviour!

 But then again, in the mad house that is Lebanon today it is not only the Maronites that seem to have "lost their minds," according to the Vatican, but the whole country has gone barking mad and people have turned into raging bulls barreling through life, through relationships, through red lights at intersections, without so much as a glance behind them at the carnage they leave behind. Lebanon is in danger alright, but not from Syrian refugees or ISIS, it's in danger from its own people, their nonchalance and lack of regard for other people, their breathtaking selfishness, their arrogance and blinding stupidity, their knack for trampling all norms and social conventions under foot and then acting surprised when someone rebukes them angrily. This land is lost, hopeless, completely hopeless!

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