I just returned from Lebanon, having spent a couple of weeks with family and friends, and as usual, among the archeological sites that remain fascinating to me. This was the first time I go there in the summer after the civil wars, and I experienced the phenomenon exclusive to Lebanon, known as Organized Chaos. I was not the one to coin the term, but my dad suggested it. Cars of all sizes, makes, and shapes buzzed around in the streets, with no particular attention to lanes or direction sometimes. Once in a while, I saw a “suicide Mobilette (MoPed)” going the wrong way with more than one person riding. Deisel Mercedes and Volvo trucks with black sooty smoke billowing from their street level exhaust pipes right into the adjacent vehicle. I learnt the hard way to keep the windows closed when I got a full breath of one M2628 truck going up the hill on the Aley Highway as we tried to pass the smoking monster. Construction galore, is what one can say about the country. Sprawling buildings tall and plentiful in all the areas I visited, littering the once beautiful mountains. The civil war in a way had delayed this urban sprawl but now the time has come for “progress” to be inflicted upon the environment. I saw a once beautiful hillside become a victim of this progress, as the bulldozers and quarrying monster machines bit into its rocky flesh. It reminded me of a victim of a shark attack, fatally wounded and bleeding to death. This, folks, is the price of progress, and we will have to live with it. Pollution is not even on the discussion menu today, with so many cars, trucks, electrical generators, garbage incineration, and other sources that poison the air everyday. Progress is inevetable but I do not believe it should be at the expense of the environment and health of the country.
I visited Baalbek, Byblos, Harissa, Beit Eddine, the Chouf area, but not the Caves of Jeita. I went there but refused to enter the cavern, though my friends did go inside and had a wonderful time. Why did I not enter this Wonder of Nature? Pictures. Yes, no one is allowed to take pictures inside the Grotto which was apparently voted as one of the wonders of the world recently. There is no explanation (that makes sense, at least), but some politician who was given the franchise (how can you sell a natural wonder as a franchise?) wants a monopoly on pictures, so no one else is allowed to even take pictures. You can buy postcards, posters, and other stuff but No Photos Please. Folks, this cavern belongs to the Lebanese people; where is the revolution? Where are the protests? Silence. Everyone is too busy enjoying themselves too much to think anymore. The Lebanese are too high and drunk on their own success, new wealth, and so called progress, to even wake up to reality. Anyway, I waited outside in the parking area, and enjoyed watching the disparities among the female visitors; some were showing more skin than one would at the beach, jiggling and bobbing as they walked, while others were clad in a black sheet from head to toe, only showing a few lumps, bumps, bulges, and a small slit to see outside this impregnable fortress. Only in Lebanon would such extremes appear side by side, no matter what one of them was thinking of the other. I was thinking of the other, of course, and the benefits of sunscreen SPF 50, to prevent premature aging and wrinkles.
Overall, it was great to see that the guns of war were silent, and I remain hopeful for this beloved country. It was a wonderful feeling to see people of all religions mingle in areas that were once a bloodbath of massacres. Is this a permanent situation? One would hope so, against all odds. Perhaps it is the Lebanese people’s goodwill or perhaps it could be the Lebanese people’s most common denominator; money. Only time will tell. To be continued…
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