Lebanon, ever resilient and irrepressible

 

Why is Lebanon resilient enough to endure the harsh trials its regional and international ‘friends’ have chosen to inflict on it? A question that already reveals my political views if you will, although my politics is to have no politics at all.

 

I know the Western camp and all its brightly colored and loud media tools that keep harping on Hezbollah as an absolute evil and the cause of all tragedies in Lebanon. Frankly, that argument has begun to wear thin! And I know that the Eastern/Muqawama/Iranian Devils camp blames all ills to befall Lebanon on the ‘usual suspects’, i.e. Israel, the US, Saudi Arabia, UAE, yada yada yada (as the UAE’s best friends would say!). 

And yet, neither one of the two entrenched camps would consider modifying their positions. The West cannot countenance rapprochement with the Hezb, arguably bigger than the PLO ever was in its heyday. Nor can the Iranian Devil’s camp reconcile the fact that although Lebanon is undeniably under financial and political siege, not all our problems are inventions of the vile West! We do have some serious issues to address.

 

I would personally rather deal with practical issues and possible solutions to people’s real and pressing day to day problems. And I truly believe that we can move ahead and move on from the point at which many seem to be stuck: the loss of depositors’ money, the Beirut Port explosion, fear of snipers shooting you dead as you walk down the street, yada, yada, yada. 

 

I wouldn’t have even considered saying “move on”, heaven forbid, had I not known for sure that my people can and will be able to set aside petty differences and really move on and up together, embracing one another rather than building barriers to separate one another.

 

Some will say I’m insane, which is fair enough. Who in his right mind can think of recovery now when so many are desperately seeking just to survive day to day. But, Lebanon is different, its special and it is made of sterner stuff. Although looking at my people you’d be forgiven for assuming they were empty headed and fake and spoilt rotten, over-perfumed men and plastic-enhanced women, all the usual stereotypes, yada, yada, yada.

 

But, we must never forget that Lebanon is a free country, I mean a truly free country in the midst of a deeply polarized and heavily policed Levant and Middle East. We have no life-time presidents or emirs or sheikhs or kings that decide everything for us. We are truly, unbelievably free, and like most people with freedom, the US being a prime example, we freely chose to elect assholes!

 

But, never underestimate the impact freedom has on the lives of people, but also on the way people think and act. A Lebanese cannot depend on the gods of government to come to his/her rescue, he/she has to slog it out, day by day, fight for every Lira and Piaster, fix everything him/herself, even worn out and collapsing State infrastructure that directly impact his/her life.

 

Water pipe bursts, you fix it. Electric line snaps, transformer blows, guess what, you call in your wasta to get it fixed. Lebanon is no land for pussies! It’s a country for tough sons of bitches who know how to hold a grudge and deliver gut punches time and again while knowing when to duck. But, it’s also home to some of the worst opportunists and profiteers. We do like a good opportunity, all we lack is the filter of good and evil and that feeling of compunction deep down when we do something truly evil because we can in the name of profit.

 

Otherwise, my Lebanon stands head and shoulders above the rest in the region, a country that has been the target of many a jealous outburst, people have called us many things, brotherly Arabs who profess their love for our country, demean us by belittling our country and condemning it as a failed state. But we, we brave few, are Teflon to their glue, we keep rising up again and again and we will continue to do so, as individuals or companies or professionals across all fields, we are irrepressible and ever inventive and creative in our search for solutions to our problems. So, keep em coming, problems that is, we’ll overcome them all.