The Shadow Of The Lebanese Revolution No One Told Me About
As I'm writing these words, my mind (and heart) is with my fellow revolutionists on the streets. I even feel a little bit guilty that I am sipping tea and writing, instead of being with them right now.
Are they being burnt by the sun? Do they need water? Are they hungry? Most importantly, how tired are they?
It is of no surprise that since this revolution started, a lot of Lebanese men and women have been doing the best they can in a hope of a better country!
I knew this would come with a price, but I was completely oblivious as to what that cost was.
We are all happy that this is finally happening; yet we are too emotional, struggling with lots of ups and downs.
Demonstrators hold Lebanese flags as they gather during a protest over deteriorating economic situation, in Beirut, Lebanon October 18, 2019. REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir
With every new piece of information we receive, every story we tell to each other, and every video we watch, uncontrollable tears can turn into smiles or laughter in a matter of seconds.
You can even witness the intense, mixed emotions on the streets! Angry, happy, depressed, calm, sad, anxious, hopeful... Not only are we physically exhausted, but also processing our emotions at this time is a difficult task for all of us.
These days, the revolution is what's waking us up in the morning, and what keeps following us throughout the day, until we sleep. Then, we might dream about it. We have always dreamt about it!
REUTERS
But this is very new to us! We deeply feel, inside our souls, that we are headed in the right direction.
Yet there is a strange, unfamiliar feeling. Is it just that we have finally stepped out of our big ol' collective comfort zone? (Wait... was that even comfortable in the first place?!) Is it that we are sure that a big change is coming?
As we are excited that this is happening, something in parallel is going on every moment: It was done, said, or written about; and we give it our FULL attention.
We feel that these small events we are learning about by the minute will surely result in a big change, which will affect our daily life in the long term.
Lebanese revolt against crises - The Associated Press | Al-Jazeera
Why have we ignited the revolution in the first place, if not for this? We all know it is not very clear how things will exactly go... yet, we badly want to KNOW EVERYTHING.
It's normal. We try to connect the dots and analyze every single new occurrence in order to know how to act next...
The truth is: In the big scheme of matters, the only thing that has been making the real change so far was us going to the streets, and staying there no matter what!
Micro analyzing the new events sometimes does more harm than good, and at times it becomes draining.
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Hmmm... Did listening to, or participating in, endless political debates ever change anything? Or even watching the news?! Ok, maybe, on the night of October 19, 2019!
Our hearts are leading this revolution, and our feet are on the ground! But we need to rest our feet! So, every now and then, I get to learn to take at least three to four hours breaks, just go home and relax.
By relaxing, I don't mean reading tweets or refreshing the Facebook Newsfeed every 2 minutes to then enter into a fight with friends and family, and reply to haters or conspiracy theorists; which I used to do at first, wasting more of my energy.
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I am honestly planning on becoming a professional revolutionist now. I take a bath. I drink tea. I've told you that I'm doing that right now already!
I listen to music. I speak with a friend about elephants! Yes, elephants! I tell him or her jokes, because if a revolution cannot be happy and fueled with love, it won't survive...!
Anything to distract me, and guess what? I learned that the time you take for yourself serves the revolution better than anything else. Have you ever read self-help books about how you must take breaks during a difficult challenge?
If you have been in the streets since day 1 without a real break, well, my friend, I have extremely bad news for you...You won't last. Oh! And I can spot you!
Now, I have noticed that I am subconsciously releasing everything I need to witness in the new Lebanon that I want.
Reuters