Following a shepherd even more asleep

Promising you bountiful meadows

Transforming your spouses into widows

Go f*** yourself, mislead horse

Driven by a rider on an endless course

It may seem like a battle or even a race

But in truth, it’s a grave disgrace

Go f*** yourself, overused donkey

Plowing the fields like a lifeless zombie

Expecting to get endless feasts and respect

Yet all you’re earning is neglect

Go f*** yourself, herded goat

Looking for leaders who’ll buy your vote

Enjoying the earnings for a little while

Then getting discarded in the garbage pile

Go f*** yourself, fattened pig

Full of self-importance, feeling big

Carving your path with petty crime

Sooner or later will come your time

Go f*** yourself, lost person

Wake up now before things worsen

Your leaders are an image of your self

So only you can F*** FREE YOURSELF

Originally posted on April 12, 2020 @ 10:49 pm

“Poor Silva,” her mom said about Andrew’s mom, “She must’ve done bad things in her current or past life to be afflicted with a son who likes red! He’s such a negative influence on everyone in the neighbourhood.”

But Erica thought that Andrew was a very polite and nice kid who was always there when someone needed help. And everyone in the village used to say the same things about him before he told them that he liked red.

The same thing happened to Alexa when her mom found out that she had a red pair of socks in her drawer.

“It’s against nature and the laws of the gods that anyone should like anything other than green,” her mom preached to anyone who would listen; and many neighbours did because her mom was quite popular in the village. “Look at my Erica,” her mom would say, “disregard that she’s my daughter; but have you seen a better member of the green community?”

Erica felt embarrassed and ashamed for not liking the colour green, but she just couldn’t stand it. She just loved red, although she could never say it to her mom or to anyone.

One day, as she was coming back home from school, she saw a group of five kids gang up on Andrew and start beating him in the middle of the road. They punched him and kicked him and called him all kinds of names like “red lover”, “freak” and a whole list of obscene words. Lots of people were passing by, but no one even gave a second glance once they realized that it was Andrew being beaten. Some people even laughed and shouted “well done kids, beat the green back into him!”

Erica was both sad and afraid. She liked Andrew and still thought that he was a great kid, but she couldn’t interfere because the same would happen to her. She also couldn’t help Andrew before everyone was gone, so she just waited in the shadows until the other kids left, and there was no one else in the street.

That’s when she approached Andrew and saw how badly he was hurt. He was curled into a ball in the middle of the road, crying in suffering. He was bleeding from so many cuts and bruises everywhere, and his clothes were torn and dirty.

“Andrew,” Erica whispered, “they’re gone. Come with me.”

“Go away Erica,” he cried, “You don’t want to be seen with me!”

“Just come!” she pleaded.

Reluctantly, he let her help him up and take him to an alley which was out of the way. He collapsed against the wall, put his head between his knees and wailed.

“Why did they do this to you?” she asked him and instantly felt silly for it.

“It’s that damned red colour”, he said, “They act as if I have chosen to like it on purpose just to spite them!”

Erica just sat there and let him cry and unburden himself.

“Is this the first time this happened?” she asked Andrew.

He let out a mocking laugh and said, “I lost count how many times this happened! And it’s not always the same group. Whenever someone is not in a good mood, they blame their misfortune on me.”

“Why do you stay here then?” Erica asked him, “Why don’t you just leave the village?”

“The same thing will happen everywhere else when they find out I like red,” he explained.

“Then don’t tell them!” she proposed.

“I tried,” he confessed, “for so long, I kept it a secret. I just couldn’t anymore. I just couldn’t deny that part of me anymore because the lie became more and more painful each time I repeated that I liked green.”

Erica listened silently as she completely understood him. Even though she had recently discovered that she liked red, she felt the lie burn a bit more her every time she repeated it.

“So, I decided to tell my parents first,” Andrew said, “and instead of being there for me, they were the ones who turned on me first. After I had been deemed a model for every kid in town, I was turned into a pariah overnight.”

“But why do you still try to help them?” Erica asked.

“Just like I like red,” he answered, “I like helping people in need. It’s who I am.”

Erica sat with Andrew until he felt strong enough to pick himself up and go back home. Then she did the same.

The next morning, she woke up to the sound of commotion. When Andrew got home last night, he had a quarrel with his father who mocked his cuts and bruises and told him he deserved them. So, Andrew locked himself in his room and finally released himself from this wold’s cruelty. They found him in the morning embracing the red in his veins which surrounded him in a big puddle.

To this day, Erica’s secret burns within her chest, and each morning she wakes up feeling more wretched than the last. But it was either this or she would meet the same end as Andrew. On some days, her indifference towards the colour became a hatred of green, and it would be so intense that she seriously believed that Andrew had done the right thing.

Originally posted on October 3, 2020 @ 12:20 am

1- Jack of All Trades

A Lebanese person is a jack of all trades. No matter what his specialty is, he claims to be able to do anything. Similarly, a Lebanese minister of a particular ministry does not need to be specialized in this domain.

2- Bad with dates

When you hire a Lebanese person to perform a certain job, say repaint your house, he will tell you that it will be done in a week; however, good luck getting it done in less than a month. It’s no wonder then that the parliament renews for itself.

3- Fixing nothing by fixing everything

When there is a problem with your car, you take it to a mechanic to get it fixed; however, he ends up finding hundreds of other problems which are unrelated to your initial problem. Plus, the actual problem doesn’t get fixed. Likewise, when the government decides to fix a problem, say the sewage in a certain place, they end up digging up the entire infrastructure and replacing it. And the actual problem doesn’t get fixed.

4- Anything can be resolved with a chair…on the head

When you have a problem with a Lebanese person, instead of resolving it in a civilized manner through discussion, he will start shouting and attacking your character and small irrelevant things. As for politicians, when they disagree with one another, as we see on televisions often, they will attack one another’s characters and may even resort to throwing chairs.

5- Nose in other people’s business

A Lebanese person will get strongly involved with other people’s business even though he barely knows them. He will exaggerate their shame and even take sides, especially during the World Cup. Likewise, the Lebanese government gets involved in other countries’ politics (and lets them get involved in their own) and takes sides, even though they clearly have no benefit in creating enemies.

6- There is no problem if we don’t talk about it, is there?

When a group of Lebanese people have a dispute with another group, they stop talking to each other and won’t consider meeting with them in order to resolve it, leaving everyone hanging. Similarly, the parliament won’t convene because a group of representatives is at odds with another group, thereby leaving the whole country hanging.

Feel free to add any others you have noticed in the comments.

Originally posted on September 1, 2020 @ 8:27 am

When honesty is sacrificed for fame

And when a people follows a product

For its name, not its conduct

Alas, my people, you have become so

Your minds, as malleable as dough

You prefer a foreigner with no name

To your countryman’s rightful claim

And then you shamelessly complain

Yet, you refuse to correct or abstain

Unknowns scam you right and left

Yet you fear your brother’s theft

You refuse to support your neighbor

And then blow your money on foreign labor

You speak of country and community

But act with constant disunity

And now you brought yourself to this

A herd of sheep gone amiss

Your community, a den of arrogance

Your country, an utter embarrassment

And so, the disease grows

A schizophrenic tangle of woes

You inject yourself with fake pride

Followed by pills of great divide

Over the table, you speak of love

And under it, you push and shove

In the shadows, you are disease

But to the world, you’re … from overseas…

Originally posted on September 3, 2020 @ 10:27 am

Before I left Lebanon around 3 years ago, and as I announced it to my family, friends, and students, I was met back with a lot of indignation. I clearly told people that I had given up as soon as Aoun was appointed (not elected) president. I wrote many articles and posts expressing my indignation in the years that followed and on many significant occasions such as the Lebanese election. I know I have sounded quite negative throughout, but that had never been my intention. I just needed to point out the veracity of the old adage: Fool me once, shame on you; but fool me twice, shame on me. The Lebanese had tried Aoun during the civil war, and we all know the result, yet here’s history repeating itself with devastating consequences. As the other proverb says: those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it. Repeat it we have.

When the revolution started a few months ago, I had some very close friends in Lebanon and I warned them: if you start this, you cannot stop, you cannot accept concessions, you need to take it to the very end, or the result will be much worse than the trigger. Unfortunately, the revolution was aborted when the naivety of the Lebanese people accepted Diab, a clear puppet of the current regime to ascend and form a government with yet more puppets. I understand that the Lebanese were afraid of chaos, but I had always said that there can be no order without a prelude of chaos. What happened on August 4, in addition to the humiliation that preceeded it, was the result of the aborted revolution. In effect, the revolution had never started; it was conceived but was never allowed to come to full term. Before its conception, economy was virtually stable, although I had also warned that it was fickle. The revolution followed by the coronavirus epidemic augmented the disease which is at the core of the Lebanese society and literally exploded it. Every Lebanese person, not just the politicians, should be ashamed because you have effectively and systematically been shamed not twice, but a hudredfold.

Another proverb I constantly repeated was “As you are, so you shall be ruled”. The negligence of the Lebanese politicians and their lack of accountability is the mirror image of the negligence and carelessness of the population. The Lebanese society has to start taking responsibility for its actions; it has to stop blamethrowing and start taking decisive and clear actions and responsibilities. However, if the people are still afraid of chaos, August 4 will be the least of your worries.

There are only two choices left now: either you make the revolution come to full term and you get rid of all those responsible once and for all and by any means necessary, or this will be the end of Lebanon. If you care about saving the Lebanese Republic, you need the revolution; however, if you don’t care, then we are looking at the United States of Lebanon… no, we are just looking at the States of Lebanon; better yet, we are just looking at fragmented states… just forget about Lebanon.

We do not need a French mandate to fix the problems we have created; all we need is a Lebanese mandate. Ever since Lebanon got its so called independence, it was never truly independent. It was always a pendulum swinging between Europe, the USA, the Gulf, Iran, and hell knows what other forces were in play. And I repeat what I said before the beginning of the previous revolution: for the revolution to succeed, a strong and fearless leader must emerge: a leader who is not politically correct and who is not looking to please all sides and sects: a leader chosen by the people, not through an election, but through “inspiration”. The Lebanese people must look inside themselves now and decide who they will follow in their small circles. It could be a sibling or a neighbour. Lend that person your loyalty and support, and empower them to make the right choices for you, so that they can find the leaders they would follow, and then those leaders have to do the same, and so on. Eventually, the brain of the Lebanese Phoenix will be found and will close the borders against any interference until the country is cleansed. Democracy, in its current form, will not solve Lebanon’s problems. Only a true and supported leadership will.

Lebanon as we have known it is dead. Face it. It has been in a coma since the 70s, but 2020 took its toll on it and made it draw its last breaths. August’s explosion, regardless of how it was caused, is the defibrilator’s shock. It will either bring it back to life with a shot at living a better life, or it will pronounce it well and truly dead. But right now, Lebanon is dead until each and every cell in its body – each and every person who still consider themselves Lebanese – decides that it wants to live, and it wants to change. The cancer will still be there, namely the lackeys of the current regime, but they can be ostracised without prejudice: their loyalty has never been to Lebanon, and their voices should not be heard.

This is Lebanon’s last chance: either you are for Lebanon or you are not. If you don’t make a clear and decisive choice now, it will be made for you.

Originally posted on August 9, 2020 @ 3:22 am