Lebanese flourish, but only abroad
For a few years now, I have been writing and writing pieces paying tribute to my beautiful city Beirut out of affection, but today I write with reason — why? Because I wake up everyday in tears for not being able to be in hands and in harmony with my people back home protesting for something we have needed for over four decades now, if not more.
I’ve been an expat for about four years now and I’m always greeted with the same message when asked about my nationality.
It goes something like this,
Person: “Where are you from?”
Me: “I’m Lebanese”
Person: “Oh, Lebanon is great, you guys are so spirited and know how to live, but you only succeed when you’re abroad.”
There’s a reason for that — because the people in power never gave us the chance to actually prove how brilliant we can be in supporting our own economy, our own society, our own land, our own infrastructure, our own startups instead of contributing to yet another developed country that already has all the resources and capacities it needs to bloom.
You know, when I first left, it was about building a future for myself before I could come back home and embark on a career in diplomacy, but today, after much struggle, I wish I would have stayed because building a future in your own country and for your own country is worth more than being treated like an outcast in a society you don’t belong to.
We flee for better education, but I’ve studied in countries like Denmark and the United Kingdom and they don’t come near any of the pressure I felt while overnighting in the American University of Beirut.
Everything I have learnt in life definitely didn’t come from living abroad, it came from watching all my people sacrifice their lives for family and for their own country. A barrier that no one could break in a Lebanese’s heart.
I mean look at us — wherever we are on the face of the earth, be it the United States of America, Latin America, Europe, Australia, etc… we are all joining hands for one rationale: Lebanon has offered us something that no country will ever give us.
Trust me, nowhere is ever going to come close to home, no matter how long you stay there because كلنا للوطن.
We’re worn out, drained, jaded from having to deal with such a political sphere but we took our stand and now is the time for us to rule for our benefit and for our own home and not for the benefit of a sectarian divide that no one in the world would ever come to understand.
We won’t stop until we get our rights because Lebanese are brilliant in and out of their comfort zones. We will fight because we always get what we want, and today we want a brighter future, for ourselves, for our family, for our friends and for the next generation to come.
See you soon, Beirut, but first let’s trash the government that has trashed us since we were in our mothers’ wombs.
