It’s a rollercoaster. It’s long, it’s complicated, it makes you feel sick. Finally, it takes you back to where it all started. Lebanon. They all want to join the ride, but once on it, they only wish they could leave. Once again, it takes you back to the starting point: corruption. Lebanon. It makes people fall in love. It creates a feeling of passionate hatred in people’s hearts. It makes people laugh and cry simultaneously. For many years, it was the reason behind some broken hearts as well as the reason behind some warm ones. For many years, we knew that “it is always going to be alright”, in other words “khalas 3ade, mafi shi”.
Suddenly, July 2015.
Summer. It’s beautiful as usual. It’s beautiful, but for some reason it stinks. I stink. You stink. He stinks. Yes, indeed, you all stink. You, politicians, all stink. Garbage. Garbage was all you could see, all you could smell. The streets were full of it, and so were our souls. We stood up. We said NO. We said “You Stink”. We said “Go away andleave your mess for others to clean up”. We, hundred thousands of broken hearts. Maybe more, maybe less. We went down to the streets. Again, you shut us down. You decided to fight fire with fire. We came back again. Our flames were more threatening this time. We were willing to play your game, your favourite game. “Democracy” you call it. We signed up, just like you said anyone could.
Suddenly, May 2016.
Orange loves Blue. Yellow loves Red. Blue loves Yellow. Red loves Orange. Beirut transformed into a rainbow of love. You called them and told them you had all united. This time, only 58% followed. 42%. 42% decided to say NO. 42% said “Beirut Madinati”.
.بيروت.بيروت.بيروت.Beirut. Beirut. Beirut
Again, you thought that 42% could be washed away with some $100 bills. Again, you were wrong. We came back. We came back under one flag, one color. We want to hear nothing about religion. We have no tender feelings for certain social classes. We see no skin colors. But, we know all about Humans, all about citizens. We want to hear those who cannot speak. We want to see those who are hidden. We want to speak all languages, even those which cannot be spoken. We want to shed light on the pain, the suffering.
Suddenly, May 2018.
The expertise. The energy. The love. The hard work. All gathered under one flag. Lebanon. All gathered to fight the same fight. YOU. Li Baladi. Koullouna Watani. Again, “Democracy” we play. Turquoise, a new color. New faces. Honest smiles. “Try us for four years, you gave them thirty” we said. The flow of energy was enough to make anyone feel dizzy, overheated, overwhelmed. The youth was suddenly all involved. And we laughed. And we cried. And we started again. Hope is what we are, hope is what brought us together. It’s a virtuous circle, hoping to break the old vicious one. The reason behind all of this is love. Pure burning love for what is left of this country. How could we ever save what is left to save otherwise?
07th of May 2018. Some say we failed. We say that we have learned from this experience. We say that we are merely building up for more to come. And we really are. We found each other. We, those who still care. We, those who still want to smell the humid beaches underneath the garbage. We, those who still want to see the culture, the intellect despite the electricity cuts. We, those who still believe that the privilege they have - Education - cannot be sent to waste, it must be reused, reinvested.
Therefore, we won. We lost the battle, but we won the hearts. We won the brains. We said “Lebanon is OUR beautiful chaos!”
.لبنان.لبنان.لبنان.Lebanon. Lebanon. Lebanon
Nay Mourad Abi Samra, spetember 2018