“This has been the worst week of my life
And yet I’ve never felt closer to being a part of a community”
Claimed a Lebanese who saw his home rebuilt by the people,
after it being shattered to ruins,
in the deadly explosion that brought the port city to pieces.
This is the city that gave birth to the likes of Khalil Gibran,
and now this disaster has brought us closer to humanity.
As the Lebanese have now proven,
once thousands of volunteers emerged to clean the debris,
people of all walks of life, all groups gathered on the streets
till it was sparkling clean again,
and you couldn’t tell that till a week ago,
it was nothing but debris there.
With two governments falling,
And local authority missing in action,
The state is being funded by donations,
amidst its worst economic and political crisis.
Protests have arisen,
grass root politics has taken centre-stage,
from the ashes of a burnt city,
willing to reincarnate once again, the city of its dreams.
Azaan and church bells ring together in a beautiful symphony,
a week after the blast in the city,
the calamity leaves behind the naked truth,
reveals the best and the worst in us.
A show of solidarity unprecedented,
as a city with shattered infrastructure,
and no clear leadership,
seeks its way back to stability.
Lebanon might just find its strength back,
when these local parties end the corruption,
that has hallowed the country out from the inside,
and bring power back to where it belongs,
where the chapter of democracy began,
back in the hands of the public.