My heart is as heavy as a
ship's anchor, aimlessly dragging through the seabed on a moonless night.
Goodbye Lebanon...
Black, mournful, somber
Lebanon; a country long lost to tribal clans, megalomaniac power hungry
politicians and the gullibility of its own people.
Today my heart breaks once
again as we witness the aftermath of yet another assassination. Of course, all the attention
goes to the main protagonist, late Brigadier General Wissam al-Hassan.
I don’t want to say much
on the topic, but I would like to divert some of the focus to the civilians lost
on that Black Friday...just another Black Friday on the list. They too had
lives, families, and children.
They were middle to
working class people…people like you and me. They died, and will soon be forgotten,
sadly.
Others lost their homes;
sucked into a vortex back to the era of civil war Lebanon.
Politicians, both March 8
and 14 point the finger of blame at one another as the blood of the people
seeps endlessly in their name.
Lebanon…for how long? How
long before we evolve to a peaceful existence. One we all dream of unanimously.
How long before we prioritize ourselves and our inherent humanity before our
clan leaders?
How long before we become
a people…a civilized nation?
“Tell me not, in mournful numbers, Life is but
an empty dream! For the soul is dead that slumbers, and things are not what
they seem.” -Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.
I speak for all those who
dream of a Lebanon. A Lebanon truly free of the grip of its long idolized godly
politicians. Free of its clannish existence, egotism, sectarianism, chauvinism,
class, creed or color...
The list is too long.
I dream of the Lebanon Gibran
Khalil Gibran spoke of, one seen through the eyes of an elder enjoying the warm
breeze on a lazy summer afternoon. The grin of a little girl with wide brown
eyes mischievously running before the churchyard as her mother scolds her
for ruining those pearly white shoes. Of boys climbing trees, lighting up fig
twigs for cigarettes. Of respectful men who speak no lies, who fear for the wellbeing
of their families. Of women who know their worth and their role in society, not
just the latest fashion trend or advancement in "botoxology." Of innocence lost to
the seemingly endless charade of decadence overtaking the country.
I dream a dream of
Lebanon, and the further reality steers from that dream, the deeper my heart
sinks.
Once I was an expatriate
longing to return to Beirut. Now the itch to leave has returned with a
vengeance, though it is an urge not to be acted upon or encouraged.
Ill end it here, all the
while urging and pleading all readers, all those who have a scintilla of
intelligence to fight for your mind. Fight for your mind amid this madness. Fight
for your mind and not for your politician. That is all.
Nadine Mazloum is
currently the editor for LBCI Online English News. She received her
Honors in Communication Arts (Media Production) from The University of
Western Sydney in 2008.