Three explosions have taken place ever since I started writing this blog post almost a week ago. I don’t know why the bombings are all of a sudden back but the summer season is ruined that’s for sure and more innocent civilians and brave security members are dying. The one thing that did not change is how Lebanese react after every bombing, and how quickly they forget and move along with their lives, as if they’ve gotten used to explosions and they’ve become part of their everyday life.
If we take for example yesterday’s suicide bombing at the Duroy hotel in Raouche, here are the typical reactions that we witness on all social media channels:
– Lebanese condemning the terrorist act and supporting the Lebanese Security Forces and Lebanese Army.
– Lebanese cursing this country and wanting to leave.
– Lebanese accusing KSA/Syria/Israel/Iran/US of the chaos in Lebanon.
– Lebanese accusing Hezbollah/Hariri of what’s happening.
– Lebanese asking for the army to rule.
– Lebanese posting cheesy patriotic songs and posters and calling for unity.
– Lebanese attacking each other politically.
– Lebanese posting cheesy religious posters with a cross and a crescent next to each other.
– Lebanese sharing gruesome pictures of the wounded and dead and not caring for their
– Lebanese posing for selfies wel infijar khalfi (yes this happened but I won’t post the picture because the user deleted it).
Two or three days after the bombing, most of these these people are back to going out normally, partying, posting #LiveLoveLebanon pictures, sharing selfies and hoping for a good summer. On the other hand, few of them would find this attitude unacceptable and start calling for demonstrations and sit-ins, as well as creating hashtags and online campaigns, just the #NotAMartyr campaign.
Personally speaking, I had a birthday party at Iris on the same day the Dahr el Baydar explosion took place and I ended up going and the place was packed. Few days later when the Tayyoune explosion took place, I was watching the Brazil game and I stopped watching because I was too disgusted. Yesterday I was on my way to the Queen’s Birthday party when the Raouche blast happened and I kept going but didn’t stay for long.
What I am trying to say here is that you can never get used to explosions, but at the same time we can’t just stay home and wait for them to end. Everyone is sick of bombings, but I am also sick of Lebanese blaming other countries for these bombings. Once we stop letting others interfere in our business, once we stop interfering in other people’s businesses, and once we stop voting for people who take orders from others, then we can put the blame on others.
Until then, there’s nothing much we can do except show our support to the army and security forces and hope they can get rid of these scumbags before it’s too late. There are no hashtags or online campaigns or petitions that could help us get rid of the terrorist threat. What is needed is a proper security plan and sealed borders and I won’t bother get into details here because I am sick of repeating the same things, specially when we have malls and shopping centers still using defective bomb detectors. This being said, I ask Lebanese to stop rallying behind political parties and politicians and start looking at the bigger image, because innocent civilians are the prime target of terrorism and we should stand as one against it. Just not to sound too cliché, I am not implying for Christians to go pray in mosques and vice versa, but to simply show some respect to each other and argue in a proper way instead of cursing each other like politicians do. This sectarian hatred must go away somehow and it can be achieved if we change the way we interact with each other.
On a last note, life must go on and we must keep on enjoying it just because the terrorists don’t want us to. At the same time, we must also serve as role models for everyone around us and teach them to stay away from hatred, violence and fanaticism. That’s the lifestyle we need to get used to.
I hope you all stay safe.