For some the Apocalypse isn’t a future possibility but a historical reality.
There are no words to describe what happened here on August 4, 2020. The blast in Beirut was staggering in magnitude, and I still can’t wrap my head around what happened. You think you’d get accustomed to tragedy but you never really do. In an instant, hundreds of people died (many buried under the rubble), thousands injured hundreds of thousands were left without a roof over their heads, and scores of people are still missing. People lost their loved ones, their homes, their businesses in a blink of an eye.
What happened is much more horrible than most grotesque tale. Beirut is literally destroyed; streets are littered with debris. There’s not enough space to stand here and not enough oxygen to breath. We live in a country already suffering from all the possible nightmares: a brink of total unmitigated economic collapse, hyperinflation, collapse of national currency, skyrocketing unemployment, oligarchy corrupted warlords ruling for decades, pandemic and now our capital city is destroyed. We felt as if our hearts have been wiped off our bodies. Broke and broke beyond imagination in all parts.
My tears trickled as I watched ghastly images of Beirut, I kept replaying videos showing the explosion and kept asking myself “How could this happen?” Seeing death, crying children, adults running horribly feared, blood and destruction everywhere I broke down in tears along with my friends. We were grieving for all the lost lives, memories, for our broken nation and dreams, and for our unknown future. The surreal destruction of Beirut symbolized our downfalls.
Our hearts may have died that day, but we still have hope. Despite all the destruction I kept seeing unconditional love and sacrifices among the Lebanese.The people carrying children and running for shelter. The people wiping each other’s blood. The people comforting each other and holding each other. Those taking the wounded to the hospital. Those lining up to donate blood. Those who are helping cleaning debris and donating. The amount of love, and selflessness is overwhelming. We shall rise again; we shall show the world how to be unbroken.
Beirut, I love you ❤
Give me hope,
Do not paint a picture of despair.
Give me hope my life was not wasted here.
Tell me I am loved;
Tell me I am capable of loving.
Fill the void that clutches my spirit,
That coldly rends away my last tear.
But time slips away to the future, now past.
How did this life disappear?
Why is it so fast?
Hold me, dear.
Hold me while I grow cold.
Hold me while I grow old.
There is nothing to fear in this world except dying alone, without love.
Today is Father’s Day; father is supposed to be a child’s first protector, mentor, and hero but unfortunately for many a father can be their first nightmare and tormentor, so:
Not a very happy Father’s Day for those children who have always been dismissed by their fathers whenever they wanted approval or to be appreciated.
Not for those children who suffer every day and want their father to reach out to them or help them and be there for them in their dark times.
Not for those children who felt envious or teary eyed every day while growing up when they saw other fathers being physically affectionate towards their children because they never received it.
Not for those children who never felt loved by their father regardless of how hard they tried.
Not for those children who got beaten up and bruised and molested by a father or father figure.
Not for those children whose father seemed to love and be proud of anyone else but their children and their achievements.
Not for those children who confuse abuse or rape for love.
Be good to your heart. Have faith on your soul. Embrace the flaws and acknowledge your perfections. Take pride in the victories but before that accept your defeats. Admire the scars and preserve the memories.
But most of all, be brave to be You. Don’t be afraid to face the world alone. Don’t keep yourself away from being your best friend. Don’t let loneliness tell you that you are alone as long as your heart beats ricochets signifying a life far more precious than any you have ever befriended.
Because when the storms come and the only sun is swallowed to an abysmal darkness, it is the fire within you that will light up the whole world.
So remember, you are Everything. You are Wonderful. You are Power. You’re a Warrior and you will soar through it all, every-freaking-time!
Have you ever felt like a feeling is slipping out of you, slipping away, so much so, that you feel a need to find ways to hold onto it? That the very foundation you believed in, the world you created on it’s platform..is crumbling to dust? How do you grasp onto the fleeting moment of an emotion before it’s gulped into a veil of numbness? Do you run after it? Do you catch it? Do you cage and tame it, if you do? Or do you let it go, because for once the lifelessness seems less scary, that it’s better for the numbness to swallow you than to let reality eat you up?
My heart was whispering painful tears
In the silence of the night
And when comes the morning light
I smile like nothing is wrong
Life goes on like nothing’s lost
My whispering heart knows it all
That pain is just a transition
And that happiness awaits in turns
You feel Miserable; you yearn for Appreciation.
You yearn for Appreciation; you yearn for Love.
You yearn for Love; you fall in Love.
You fall in Love; you have everything.
You have everything; but, you begin to lose one thing at a time.
You begin to lose one thing at a time; you lose Everything.
You lose Everything; you fall out of Love.
You fall out of Love; you feel Miserable
In the town of broken hearts,
The rain never stops,
And people walk, without any place to call home,
And every nook and corner, every street,
Or be it an alley,
You will find hearts lying shattered,
And dreams hanging in thin air.
In the town of broken hearts,
All were lovers once.
Life went by so quickly that it was impossible to keep track of all the things I had lost in the way. So many smiles I would never see again. So many roads I might never walk again. The old cassettes we thought were worthy to save and collect.
Life went by so quickly that it was impossible to keep track of all the things I had lost in the way. Like the way the bustling video shops closed down without any of us noticing. Like the way we could only reminisce now of how patient we used to be with lagging video games and weekly episodic melodramatic TV series.
Life went by and we evolved, grew and became the people we thought we would never. The veneer of innocence was lost someday and we never went back and searched for it.
Life went by and we lost things we never considered precious. But, now, some nights, they come back only to haunt. I am growing too fast. I am vanishing all too soon. If I had another chance, I would try to hold them tighter, but, then, I remember, sand sips out of anything that is broken, once. It’s done.
Justice.
It’s such a brazen word, such a mouthful. Justice demands you to take it wholly inside yourself and grapple with it. It doesn’t get sidelined in a second or forgotten by the time it has been said, like peace or hope. It’s a heavy word, it doesn’t sit easy when uttered by one pair of lips and it needs more to join in. It doesn’t ask you whether you will be able to shout it. It has as much sway even when whispered.
Justice is such a brazen word, so much so the ones, who first decry it, are the last ones it reaches.
