En | Ar

The Lebanese baby, a creature that came out of the womb, discovers a country that he did not choose. Slowly but surely, he starts walking on the typical tiles full of colors in his grandparents’ house while being surrounded by beautiful smiling faces. 

With time, he will learn to write the alphabet and say basic words; from French to English, and of course, Arabic, the mother tongue. He starts learning the Lebanese dialect; which is quite different from the others.

He learns that his country has a beautiful tree in its flag, a country relatively small, where he can ski and swim in the same day. He is happy to be this unique. Nevertheless, it is not the only thing that makes him feel this special. 

Then, he will learn that his country is in the hands of corrupt, evil, people who divide between “them” and “us.” He decides to revolt and to change everything. 

The young Lebanese lose all hope and want to flee. He learns about politics, geopolitics, psychology, literature, and culture. He is doomed as he realizes that corruption is part of human nature and pride builds the graves of people’s souls. 

He gives up and starts conforming to the gods. Which gods? The flaws humans have. 

How many times do the Lebanese have to be deceived? 

The Lebanese do not know anymore. Are his words betraying him? Are his actions fooling him? Is his mind an agent of a more terrific entity?

 He is torn between two mindsets: first, « too late, the grass is greener here, it does not matter » or second, a mindset filled with actions so horrible that not even Evil can conceive. 

He is lost in his own myths, as time makes him older, more bitter, and more Lebanese. He looks at everyone; they belong to a caste that everyone can enter except him. He is like a peasant in a realm of kings, a slave in a country of masters, and a puppet in a world of puppet masters. Then, he admires what he hated in the past, seeing this as the solution to everything. When everything falls apart and he does not know where to go, he starts hurting people who believe in hope.

What now? Nothing. 

The Lebanese will feel lonely, just as if he were supposed to be. His life is pure blasphemy: Who is he to criticize our principles? Who is he to describe his life? He needs to summarize everything in one letter, PhD’s in every field, centuries of experience, fit with our democratic values, we are the only real resistance in the infinity of NGO’s, parties, friends' groups, individuals, and concepts. Otherwise, you are our enemy. Deep down, every Lebanese is a party, the only good one, while every other one is bad. Later, he will be tortured and beaten with an iron pipe. He will be condemned to a fate worse than death: being ignored and dumped by every object. No one cares.

That is the story of the Lebanese. After this text, some will find the author, calling him names and throwing hands at him. It is your right, and it is very understandable. It is not about criticizing something, but to understand the general situation without the saying, « our society is corrupt, political parties are foreign agents, society is obscurantist, not democracy ». Do not worry: this dumpster of words called a text will be another proof archived in some forgotten library and forgotten forever. Doom is inevitable, but our hearts still beat. Does he believe in something? 

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