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Lebanese Numbness
By Iman Tabbara Alayli, Staff Writer

Beirut, Lebanon- I pity those who were unlucky enough to be born Lebanese. These people will never know what it means to be proud all the time, determined, restless, and most importantly to be fearless. Soon we started learning from our mistakes. Then we realized that it is impossible to live in fear endlessly. Finally, we stood our ground and demanded freedom. Freedom… Not only from external oppressors but from those amongst us. We have the right to live freely, happily, and we demand the implementation of the latter.

I had the privilege of spending the Eid holiday back home in Beirut, in spite of the political atmosphere and what it renders to. Truly, it was inspiring. Most people I met were very skeptical and very worried about the way our political leaders are handling themselves. Nevertheless, people were out having coffee, clubbing, shopping and socializing. I had to reserve some seats in advance to be able to eat out at a restaurant. I could not find any clothes or shoes my size. Ironically though, people were scared, but life does go on!!! Isn’t that our Lebanese motto?

I have come to a realization that we Lebanese refuse to be intimidated or even scared off. I guess we have been through so much that we have lost the ability to react “normally,” to many situations. That is, we are allowing outer events to reshape our lives negatively. War or no war, we strive to live our lives in the best way we can and the best way we know how to, putting sadness behind us and moving on, learning whilst paying a high price… I salute you all. Keep it alive. As for those miserable leeches wanting to bring us down, I say one thing, “Bring it on!”