Tuesday, May 22, 2007
Checkpoints and flowers
I realize that you have probably seen the news by now that there is some significant fighting in the north between the army and a group of Palestinian's (Fatah al-Islam) refugee camp called Nahr al-Bared. There have also been two bombings in areas that have nothing to do with the camp, one Christian area and one primarily Sunni. There have been dozens killed from both sides and I am feeling very sad today. The militants are not a mainstream group with much support, so most people do not seem too worried about the big players getting too involved. I pray they are right. I have a close friend at uniersity who is a young Palestinian woman and I spoke with her today about it. Things like this can often make people long for their homeland (I feel it some), and for the Palestinians that is very hard because they no longer have one. Having faces to put with what the news only ever calls "Palestinians" can change your view on the whole picture. As I walked to class with her today the weather was beautifully clear and warm, the Gardenias where in full bloom and smelled like heaven. She commented that "it is such a nice day that you could easily forget that a few kilometers from here people are killing each other." She is right; I pray our hearts never harden to those suffering so near us.
We are safe and we are still going to University and taking exams etc. Most people are trying to find a balance between that pressure and realizing that there is a real fight going on out there. There are loads of checkpoints and more tanks and helicopters and machine gunned soldiers than I have yet seen. We have been stopped at a number of checkpoints and I have had my first few opportunities to test my Lebanese ID and so far I have passed each time. Many people are on edge understandably and it is hard for me to watch the Lebanese get more and more demoralized each time something like this happens (and there really have been a lot this year). I can try my best to encourage them, but there is only so much that words from a foreigner like me can do. My presence I know is helpful, and even more my decision to stay on when I could have easily left. Each time I tell someone about it their face lights up and I get some kind of slap on the back and a big Ahlan wa Sahlan. God's plan is unfolding day after day and I am glad to be in it.
God save this country, and protect its people.
I realize that you have probably seen the news by now that there is some significant fighting in the north between the army and a group of Palestinian's (Fatah al-Islam) refugee camp called Nahr al-Bared. There have also been two bombings in areas that have nothing to do with the camp, one Christian area and one primarily Sunni. There have been dozens killed from both sides and I am feeling very sad today. The militants are not a mainstream group with much support, so most people do not seem too worried about the big players getting too involved. I pray they are right. I have a close friend at uniersity who is a young Palestinian woman and I spoke with her today about it. Things like this can often make people long for their homeland (I feel it some), and for the Palestinians that is very hard because they no longer have one. Having faces to put with what the news only ever calls "Palestinians" can change your view on the whole picture. As I walked to class with her today the weather was beautifully clear and warm, the Gardenias where in full bloom and smelled like heaven. She commented that "it is such a nice day that you could easily forget that a few kilometers from here people are killing each other." She is right; I pray our hearts never harden to those suffering so near us.
We are safe and we are still going to University and taking exams etc. Most people are trying to find a balance between that pressure and realizing that there is a real fight going on out there. There are loads of checkpoints and more tanks and helicopters and machine gunned soldiers than I have yet seen. We have been stopped at a number of checkpoints and I have had my first few opportunities to test my Lebanese ID and so far I have passed each time. Many people are on edge understandably and it is hard for me to watch the Lebanese get more and more demoralized each time something like this happens (and there really have been a lot this year). I can try my best to encourage them, but there is only so much that words from a foreigner like me can do. My presence I know is helpful, and even more my decision to stay on when I could have easily left. Each time I tell someone about it their face lights up and I get some kind of slap on the back and a big Ahlan wa Sahlan. God's plan is unfolding day after day and I am glad to be in it.
God save this country, and protect its people.
# posted by Brian @ 9:12 AM 
