To the Lebanese ... the dreamers
Marwa Kaabour ??
International Best Selling Author | CMO | Board Member l MBA | Certified Sustainability Marketer | Certified Digital Marketer | Proud Mother
It was heart wrenching to see this year’s Lebanese Independence Day marked with wreaths holding basil placed on graves and brooms on the streets. It is high time for the Lebanese to put aside the accumulative package of family, faith, race, traditions as ties. It is time that we get bonded by a plan for a worthy future. A future full of freedom. Freedom to dream, to live gracefully and to love each other unconditionally.
I speak as a Lebanese who never lived in Lebanon. My family fled the civil war when I was little. I did not walk the nostalgic streets of Beirut and I did not study in any of its reputable institutions. I was introduced to hummus and tabbouleh on the dining table of our small apartment in Sharjah. My heart fails to thump to the songs of Fairuz. And sadly, I do not know the words of the Lebanese national anthem.
I remain fascinated by the matrix of it all – traumatic events, poverty, indigenous creativity, interminable debates, and an amalgam of thought tribes. The outpouring of a Lebanese in me is malnourished.
Yet, I yearn to belong to this fragile miracle of a country.
They say that time changes things, only if you change them yourself. The future of Lebanon is no longer a cry for sovereignty. The future lies with the youth. The force of the youth is much stronger than any political , ideological, or economic force.
Will a new generation united by a dream, and not by anguish, help me call Lebanon home ?
Software Sales Leader South West Europe & Africa
4 年Hi Marwa, I spent my childhood in Lebanon, lived vividly several wars, and we ended up fleeing to Cyprus on a speed boat. Came back to the country for high school and university before I left for a job in Kuwait. Rest is history. The issue with Lebanon is one of identity, I think, and one of exclusive views. Each lebanese faction's supporters view their version of Lebanon as the only True version. It's like everyone in Lebanon thinks they hold the monopoly to what Lebanon ought to be. In the midst of it, instead of thinking Lebanon first, we often look for a solution outside our borders.... No one will fix us unless we fix ourselves. The country is super polarized and I fear the cost will be too high for a change to happen... I can't see how the Lebanon in Fairuz or Ziads songs will re-emerge in our lifetime, unfortunately.
Live while you're living ??
4 年.. oh how my heart aches.... how can we fuel dreams while we help heal anguish in the Lebanese youth.... ??
Performance Improvement Coach, Business leader | Husband, Father | Accidental Cook
4 年What you said is engraved in many compatriots hearts, but here is the challenge. How do you think that this is in our hands where it is so blatantly obvious that the world powers are the big players? When was the last time we saw the will of the people ( real people) gets implemented? When was the last time a real leader of the people actually lead with the people's interest in mind. What you are saying dear Marwa is great, but it is bigger than any of us, in it out of the country to have any kind of influence. Things don't go wrong, things start wrong, and Lebanon since 1943, started wrong. If you believe in miracles, keep praying, I have never stopped.
Every word you said I felt it