When I was a kid, we went to visit Lebanon, I was about 6 years old, which places it just a few months after the end of the civil war, civil strife had just ended and there was hope that could be felt. I remember one song particularly well, it spoke of rebuilding Lebanon and the days of joys to come, here is a version I found. That song struck well with me, when it spoke of the return of the Lebanese, as brethren and as equals who will join hand-in-hand to rekindle the joys of old Lebanon.
To be honest, I felt a sense of shame when I visited Lebanon then, I was ashamed that Lebanese and Palestinian factions where able to fight for years on end, to induce a death toll of 100,000 people amongst each other and more importantly that Palestinians have once again caused havoc in a host, sovereign country. I remember thinking it would take years to repair all those buildings, and a great amount of money, but that was before we heard of what Hariri was capable of doing.
I miss the feeling of comradeship I noticed then in Lebanon, after the Taif Agreement, Lebanese people my father spoke to were talking about “La ghaleb wala maghloob,” which meant that now one won the civil war, but instead, they were equal as Lebanese. They all felt like they fought each other to the best of their capabilities, and that now they were willing to together to build a future for their children.
I wish that today it was this simple, but then again, it probably never was.
