Reader: Hell Yes You Should Be Working Hard For Lebanon

A reader is amazed at our lethargy and decides to verbally slap us “whiners” in the face.

Keeping the dream alive…

In response to my previous post, “Cedars4ever” writes:

You are right. Why bother? Why not just switch off completely, allow those ‘non-Lebanese’ to dictate what happens in your country and then once you come out of your stupor again in another 20 years, complain loudly from the comfort of your country of exile of choice that it’s all so unfair, that it could have, should have been different.

What did you expect? A smooth ride? That after 20 years of being able to do as it pleased of sucking Lebanon dry, Syria would just roll over and say ‘okay’ when for the first time in living memory the Lebanese actually publicly gave a damn about their country? Several times in a row.

Do you read history? Know anything about countries like Poland, Czechoslovakia and the former Soviet Bloc? Are you aware how hard they and other people around the world have had to fight (and in many cases still have to fight) to gain and then maintain their freedom?

If when for the first time in decades the entire world community is finally on the side of Lebanon and the Lebanese, however marginally, and Kissengerian ‘realpolitik’ is finally dead, you aren’t up for it, for organising, for forming civil society organisations, for blogging, for holding on to your opinion with no ‘ifs’ or ‘buts’, for not resorting to self-pity, if you cannot draw strength from the entirely obvious concept that Lebanon is not yet fully but certainly will one day become an independent nation rather than some IsraeloSyrIranian satellite, if you are prepared to believe all Assad’s propaganda about the ‘inevitablity’ of Syria’s ‘return’, then at least stop whining about your fatigue.

Fatigued about what? Lebanon’s unending struggle? Of course it is tiring. Of course it is disheartening. But just remember that just over 3 years ago, all of this discussion would not have been taking place at all, except behind closed doors. If you really don’t have the energy to prevent that from happening again, if you are prepared to allow your silence to be taken as acquiescence by those ‘non-Lebanese’, then please, pack up and leave now (if you haven’t already) and stop pretending that you give a damn.

Tired? Yes, I’m tired too. Tired of whiners like you.