from before

My decision to come to my native country was one that i took soon after the events of March 14^th which are now proudly referred to as the day the Lebanese claimed their Independence against Syria and Freedom. I was very much moved last Valentine’s Day on February 14 2005 when I received a phone call from my friend Charlotte. She was calling out of concern for the safety of my family. There had been a massive bomb that exploded and killed a honorable man. Rafik Hariri was had been the Prime Minister of Lebanon for the ___previous years and he was taking a year of down time to reconsider his stance and political agenda for the region. HE was coming from the downtown region that we was responsible for rebuilding, called Solidere on his way back to his palace. This philanthropist had invested billions of dollars into rebuilding the country and was known for his charitable contributions to the poor of the country, be they scholarly, financial, medical or otherwise. His money did buy him his power, tough, unfortunately. He was in fact never able to see the completion of the biggest mosque in Lebanon where he is now buried, near to which stands a memorial to him and 6 others, his body guards and the former minister of economy (akh ya Baba), also killed during the attack. As I walk home from a long day at work and a diner meet I pass by the blaring Koran being sung in the tune so melancholic it brings tear to my non-Muslim eyes. I am touched by the way in which there is never a moment that I pass this site without seeing but a person standing, paying homage to a man so loved for the good he tried doing for his country. A place torn by 15 years of war and a sectarian government that only continue to separate its people. Christian (Maronite, Orthodox), Muslim (Sunni, Shia), Druz, Armenian, Progressive etc. Here it often feels like you must choose one or the other in order to truly feel like you fit in. One must identify with a sect in order to belong somewhere, so that they can be placed and categories. So that maybe no intentional offense is found in a conversation and also so that one knows where you stand in certain parts of the country’s framework and makeup.

February 26, 2006