The Rise of the Phoenix

Following the enormous explosion of yesterday’s afternoon at Achrafieh (Lebanon), one cannot but think of the absurdity of hate, tensions and conflicts between fellow citizens, brothers and sisters, even if different in their political and religious/sectarian affiliations. 

So many Lebanese died, disappeared, suffered psychologically and physically, from all sides, for absolutely nothing, paying the price of twisted minds and Machiavellian schemes. Continuous wars, murderous identities, wounded memories… A sick nation unable to heal itself, lost in a vicious cycle of violence. 

Still, no amount of manifest absurdity could deter those who believe in the rise of the Phoenix or the Phoenix’s ability to be reborn from its own ashes, not to be the offspring of the older version, but a new being. Lebanon, and Beirut in particular, was often depicted symbolically as a phoenix bird having been destroyed and rebuilt 7 times during its long history.

I am a believer, and I have a duty to transmit this belief to my readers and my students; especially those students who lost faith in their country; those who are ready to leave everything behind, even the memory of the ones who fought and sacrificed to keep the dream of a ‘unified in diversity’ nation alive. I will keep on digging in the past, not to revive it, but to understand it and transmit its lessons, while searching for something to look forward to. Maybe, one day, soon, we will all be able to live out of its dark shadows.