Broken dreams

Yesterday I did something I had wanted to do for several days, I gave Jad a call. He is a 30-year-old Lebanese living in Brussels, an architect with several diplomas and masters; he has lived in several countries, speaks not less than 7 languages, and is a very intelligent person. He is also very assertive, and his strong character clashed with that of our Dutch teacher some months ago. His name, it seems, is not very common for a Lebanese. Normally parents name their children with names that show the religion or ethnic group they belong to, but in his case, with father and mother of different religions, they opted for something neutral. People often ask him what his religion is, and he always says he belongs to no group: I am Lebanese. He is particularly proud of his mixed origin, and he belongs to a generation that seriously believes in peace and reconstruction of the country. I remember how happy he was about Syria leaving Lebanon. Now we will be able to take our own future in our own hands, we will demonstrate understanding and tolerance to the rest of region and to the rest of the world. His plans were going back to Lebanon in one or two years time and do his part in helping building the country. He had already started by creating an NGO that sponsored some small projects in rural areas, and was full of ideals. Even his Belgian girlfriend was ready to go with him and start a new life in this Promised Land.

Now Jad is under a shock. His family is all right, as they live in a Christian neighbourhood of Beirut and don’t fear the bombing, but the country is not. Several hundreds of civilians killed, billions of dollars worth infrastructure destroyed, one quarter of the total population displaced, and a big question: why? What does Israel gain with all that destruction? Why so much hate? The only winner will be Hizbulah, that will ripe the thirst for revenge in a growing number of Lebanese.

I gave Jad my interpretation, that Israel suffers a case of collective hysteria. The same as the Americans, that with post-11^th September fears need to see some revenge and military action taken, so the Israelis need to see clear action against Hizbulah and are completely blinded to see the pain they inflict in the majority of Lebanese that nothing have to do with the extremists.

I am really sad for Jad, and for the rest of the Lebanon. 4 million people dreaming during 15 years to build an impossible country, and now it can be gone in barely 15 days. Will this generation have the mental strength to rebuild a country for the second time (not to mention the financial)? It will take many Jads to recover from this madness.