![](”http://static.flickr.com/44/116364022_14e11279b9_o.jpg")
Sunday, 16 Jul 2006
People who know me know that I am not the biggest fan of Human nature in general. In all actuality, this whole war -to me at least- crystalized what I always stressed to be the main aspect of human nature: Our insistence on killing one another. Since the dawn of time, this is what people did: They went to wars and killed each other. War, as far as I could tell from the world around me, was the normal state of world, not Peace. War is the reality, Peace is the ideal, either choose to be a realist or an idealist. That's all there is to it!
That being said, there is one thing that I always admired about Humans, and that is the Human spirit. Our resilience. Our refusal-against incredible odds- to just give up. Our ability to look the horror of the world in the eyes and tell it "Fuck you, I will live on!" That's also what we do best.
Even when faced with hate…
Or Insanity…
Or destruction…
We always manage to persevere. We always seem to forget that. We shouldn't!
Well, here are some examples to help you not forget it. To remind you that, even with the hell that has broken loose in this region, that it's not all bad, and that the Human spirit endures:
A lebanese man, sitting on his rooftop in Beirut, laughing, while you can see the smoke from an israeli bomb in the background. This is vintage lebanese attitude as far as I am concerned: Death and Destruction may be near, but so what? That won't stop us from having a good time.
Members of the same family, looking totaly unfazed despite the bombing that's taking place in front of them. One of them is even taking a picture of it using his cell- phone!
The attitude exists on the Israeli side as well. This is a picture of the Sea of Gallile: You can see the Israeli Coast guard boats as they are broadcasting their message to have people evacuate the beaches and head for the bomb shelter. This israeli family is completely unfazed by it, and they continue to swim regardless.
Same location, same situation, and the israeli dude? He barbeques. What do you say to that?
A lebanese family in Israel, of the families that comprised the SLA, hiding in a bomb shelter. Check out the Painting in the back!
Even faced with the possibility of getting bombed, those lebanese children continue to play, inside the Bomb shelter.
And Finally, there is this picture of a Lebanese Bride in Baabada yesterday, heading to her wedding in a church.
As lives end all over, this one is about to start hers, despite it all. Death may be everywhere, but that will not stop her from living. I find no better example of Lebanon than this Woman, and this is why I love Lebanon, and I love the lebanese people so much.
So yes, despite my utter contempt for Human nature, I have nothing but outmost admiration for the Human spirit. One should never let the horrors of the first blind you to the beauty of the latter. And nothing symbolizes this to me than this picture of Beirut.
Some people will look at this picture and see the dark cloud from all of the bombing, but what I see is the beautiful city of Beirut, and how it magnificantly shimmers in light, depsite it all.
This is not the end of Beirut, or of Lebanon, mianly because of the Lebanese people's resilience and spirit. When all of this will end, the lebanese and Israelis will clean the rubble and rebuild, like they always do!
This, too, will pass!
We should never forget that!
July 16th, 2006 at 10:21 am
I think this is your best post ever
July 16th, 2006 at 10:41 am
Cool beans Sam - cool beans.
July 16th, 2006 at 10:55 am
i was to write the same thing suzanne .. I think That’s the best thing I read here for a long time
..
I really love the last picture, so expressive
regardless the human nature , lebanese spirit is so amazing .. after these succesive wars . They became calmer , more in control and exactly knowing what they have to do
…
I salute the lebanese people , the real victims and the real heroes of that damned war
July 16th, 2006 at 10:55 am
Thank you. I needed to be reminded that there’s more than hatred and desperation.
July 16th, 2006 at 11:09 am
Thank you Sandmonkey…
July 16th, 2006 at 11:29 am
does any one know what happened to our lebanese little Becca ?
July 16th, 2006 at 11:36 am
Sam, you have brought me to tears. Somehow, and I don’t know how or why, this post has moved me even more than all the images of death and destruction, our and theirs.
July 16th, 2006 at 11:50 am
Thank you.
July 16th, 2006 at 12:00 pm
The mark of a true human being Sam……..While the world turns to shit around us, the laughter of a child, a beautiful bride and , within our hearts , hope unbridled….. Thank you for reminding us Sir
July 16th, 2006 at 12:27 pm
Good post man.
July 16th, 2006 at 12:31 pm
Thank you Sam. Tears here too.
July 16th, 2006 at 12:34 pm
EXCELLENT POST!!!
July 16th, 2006 at 1:41 pm
Thank you for the best words I’ve read today. Nothing else, just thank you.
July 16th, 2006 at 1:50 pm
Nice one.
I was thinking about my own wedding in a couple weeks, and how if it had to be in a bomb shelter, so be it… And there she is, smiling. Good on her.
July 16th, 2006 at 1:55 pm
Great post.
July 16th, 2006 at 2:25 pm
The picture about the lebanese family in israel, the girl on the left although a bit chubby but certainly she is a hottie.
please god save her from the terrorist rockets of hizbola for me.
July 16th, 2006 at 2:34 pm
The Palestinian and Lebanese people’s resilience is known for many years, they will always tell you we love life and we will make it.
Good post thanks for easing some pain of your readers instead of adding to it.
July 16th, 2006 at 2:35 pm
Who’s a lazy bum? - update your link in your Blogger profile! :p
Great post BTW.
jd will in Michigan
July 16th, 2006 at 2:38 pm
Great selection of pics.
July 16th, 2006 at 2:42 pm
“War is the reality, Peace is the ideal”
I would say that peace is the reality. War is the exception, despite all those history books full of wars. History books only records special cases. If peace was a special case, it would have been recorded, that as a peaceful era between 2 nations in a long war.
Sure war has always been on this earth, but it has never been global expect of 2 times as of the WWI and WWII. Otherwise war has been focuse on some spots on the earth while other spots lived in peace.
Look at current situation. We have Iraq, Israel, USA, Lebanon, Sudan, Afganistan at some kind of war, but the majority of the earth population are living in peace, right?
Human spirit has always managed to find the light, otherwise we wouldnt have make it till here. We are also progressing towards a better world. I guess one day, we would reach a peaceful world.
Wish we can set those lost souls who are causing destruction back on track.
Thanks for the inspiration…
July 16th, 2006 at 2:44 pm
Wonderful pictures.
This reminds me: It’s too bad Israeli tourists weren’t invited into Lebanon over the past six years. It’s much, much harder to destroy a place you’ve been to and enjoyed.
July 16th, 2006 at 2:46 pm
Carpe Diem, baby!
Now where did I put that fiddle…?
July 16th, 2006 at 2:48 pm
If there was a Pulitzer for Blogging, this post would win.
July 16th, 2006 at 2:53 pm
You’re growing wiser and wiser. Now ponder this: why can’t we let enough of our human spirit trickle into our human nature, to allow us to live AND let live? Is the spirit side strong, but a little on the lazy side so that it only kicks in when the nature kicks it in the ass?
Why is it that when we disagree with something, we feel like we want to crush it? Isn’t it possible to hate something, but live side-by-side with it, as long as it doesn’t crawl up your arm and bite you? Ah, but that would mean we were being logical…
p.s. love the ads up at the top!
July 16th, 2006 at 2:56 pm
Thank you.
July 16th, 2006 at 3:51 pm
And here’s an honest question:
The range of diversity in the region seems to be quite small, really. Saying you have both Sunnis and Shiites is -to quote the Blues Brothers- kind of like saying you have both Country AND Western music. I’d bet there are more religions/races/nationalities in my New York apartment building than in all of Egypt.
So why do you make such a massive deal over it? And moreover, why do you make a massive deal of it over there, but get along perfectly well when you’re over here?
July 16th, 2006 at 4:11 pm
It never ceases to amaze me how we human beings can be so fucked up and at the same time show flashes of grace and nobility.
When we engage in self-destructive, selfish and “ignoble” acts it show where we as a human race came from!
I like to think that our flashes of unselfishness, compassion and honour are an indication of where we are headed in our spiritual and physical evolution.
On a side note if I made that statement over here I would immediatly have some right wing Christian asshole giving me a lecture on Creationism - and the only way we could achieve a state of grace would by by following his/her beliefs that Christ died for our sins.
(Actually he was killed because he was an “effiecient” Gnostic shit-disturber who challenged the Jewish establishment) http://www.God-101.com
Your faithfull scribe;
Allan W Janssen!
July 16th, 2006 at 4:45 pm
Kate in NYC
Americans all live together in peace & security because the US is a fully-functioning capitalistic democracy.
With democracy, people can express group identity and grudges without violence.
With a properly functioning domestic market, everyone has a stake in continued peace with his neighbor (so they can continue to do business, he can earn enough to send his daughter to college, etc.).
Also, a functioning market is a proxy for violence, internally (suing/fining people instead of imprisoning them) and externally (downgrading trade relations instead of going to war).
July 16th, 2006 at 5:05 pm
Awesome post, absolutely the best I’ve seen all day.
July 16th, 2006 at 5:09 pm
SM
Nice job. Thanks
July 16th, 2006 at 5:24 pm
When the war broke out in the Middle East, I thought about the old story of the frog and the scorpion who were trying to cross a river there.
The scorpion couldn’t swim and the frog was lost, so the scorpion proposed a deal: Give me a ride on your back and I’ll show you the way.
The frog agreed and the trip went fine until they got to the middle of the river and the scorpion stung the frog. As they were sinking, the frog asked in his dying breath, “why would you do that?”
To which the scorpion replied, “because it is the Middle East.”
It is worth noting that Palestinians in the Gaza Strip did not kidnap that Israeli soldier and provoke all this because the Israelis were invading Gaza. No, all this happened in the wake of the Israeli withdrawal, which was what the Palestinians wanted, but this is the Middle East. Why fundamentalists in Gaza and Lebanon chose to provoke this war makes no sense.
Israel had every right to respond and did. But this is the Middle East. So, the response may have made it worse by giving moderate Arabs in the region an excuse to distance themselves from Israel.
There was a time when America spent a lot of its diplomatic effort on the Middle East and sometimes, it had real impact. Jimmy Carter’s Camp David accords, after all, removed Egypt as the main threat to Israel.
July 16th, 2006 at 5:31 pm
I saw some of those same pictures yesterday and didn’t put that context on them until just now when I read your post
Thanks.
July 16th, 2006 at 5:40 pm
Beautiful. Simply heartening.
I cannot say how much all of us need this dose of optimism at this time: thank you.
July 16th, 2006 at 6:03 pm
These are the coping skills of the Arabs. Similarly when you see every Egyptian is a comedian, he’ll crack jokes and make friends with a complete stranger. Even though his life sucks
July 16th, 2006 at 6:14 pm
HI
As a lebanese I salute u. This post is exceptionally good and a powerful message that life is Precious. Cherish it.
Thank U… Peace now to live more.
m
July 16th, 2006 at 6:15 pm
I think I sobbed, reading this post. It is beautiful and brilliant. THANK YOU!
July 16th, 2006 at 6:16 pm
That was excellent, especially the human nature / human spirit bit.
July 16th, 2006 at 7:07 pm
It’s a great post. One of the greatest I’ve ever read.
Thank you.
July 16th, 2006 at 7:53 pm
Nice pictures. Nice piece.
This is totally off-topic but if anyone knows more about these things than I do, I would appreciate some help:
My internet seems to be acting funny the past few days. I can no longer get certain pages to come up (or, in some instances, they load only partially - frequently the home page won’t load fully but archived articles often will) and cannot comment on most blogs. Even with this blog, I have to include sufficient links so as to prompt me to enter a security code for my comments to come up. On blogspot sites, when I attempt to leave a comment, I get a message stating that the blog I am looking for cannot be found and offering me the option of returning to the dashboard. I also cannot send emails since when I go to compose an email in Yahoo the text box doesn’t appear(!) and I also cannot get to the Windows Updates site (great!) though I can get to the Windows downloads site and related locations.
I have two computers connected via wireless LAN. The problem occurs on both computers and with both Firefox and Internet Explorer so it isn’t a problem restricted to a particular browser and it isn’t likely to be an issue with the client’s connection to the server.
I have AdAware Pro and Spybot and nothing fishy is coming up. Thinking it may have something to do with the immunization against spyware, I disabled the immunization. Unfortunately, that hasn’t worked either. Norton Antivirus is ran regularly (2-3x a week) and nothing unusual is coming up there either.
I have tried all the usual things like disabling the firewall, flushing the dns, etc.
Nothing seems to work.
Could it be something with my registry? I tried to restore the registry on my client computer, but that had no effect. The registry isn’t backed up on the server computer (which somebody else tends to use - and mismanage - most of the time.)
It isn’t something with my ISP. I’ve called them to see if they were having any issues and they are not. It seems to be affecting certain sites that I visit frequently. Sites I rarely visit don’t seem to have been affected.
Any ideas I could try or things I could check? I don’t want to have to backup and format the server if I don’t have to but if I cannot fix this, that is where I am heading. I would attempt to post this at
News Flash!
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060716/ap_on_re_mi_ea/mideast_hezbollah;_ylt=AlKafs3D1t388TjacAzOoopvaA8F;_ylu=X3oDMTA0cDJlYmhvBHNlYwM-
The story leads off with:
“Hezbollah and its backers, not the government, now appear in control of Lebanon’s fate.”
The Lebanese government is weak and cannot control Hezbollah? Who woulda’ thunk it!
July 16th, 2006 at 8:28 pm
Good!
The SLA thing is quite good for your standing as a relieable
master race collaborator - although I don’t know, if they will for-
give you your filthy arab nationalism - the Sinai thing - you
know …
July 16th, 2006 at 11:45 pm
Great post Sandmonkey. I particulary love the picture with the Lebanese and Israeli flags side by side.
These two countries have so much in common and should be the closest of allies. If there was no Hezbollah maybe this could be true.
July 17th, 2006 at 12:29 am
Your post reminds me of America after 9/11. Americans didn’t curl up in a ball but went to work and did what had to be done and in most parts of the country went about their work and business even tho the terrorists would have liked us to feel “terrorized”!
July 17th, 2006 at 12:48 am
Thank you so much for this post. It’s a great way to be evenhanded, humane, and a friend.
July 17th, 2006 at 2:40 am
I copied this entire post and emailed it to a large group of people.
One is a Lebanese friend of mine who wrote back the email copied below.
Her letter is rather strong but worth reading…….. Interested to see replies from LP and others. Regards….
July 17th, 2006 at 4:06 am
Mike, how can she know that the man is a Christian? He’s on a hill, but some of the lower hills of Beirut are Muslim. And Israel did shell a Christian city, Jounieh, although it was the part and not a residential area.
I also want to kick every Islamist inch back to SyriaIran, but is this what Israel is doing? There’s no Islamist hiding under the bridges, and there was no Islamist hiding in the lighthous or in Beirut’s port.
July 17th, 2006 at 5:30 am
SM, very kool post dude!!
July 17th, 2006 at 6:55 am
This was just utterly… beautiful and moving..
All the pictures made clear statements, specially the last picture, it was magnificent
July 17th, 2006 at 8:19 am
Wonderful post, Sandmonkey, thank you.
July 17th, 2006 at 9:40 am
great post SM!!! seriously needed a boost after watching and reading the news..
the situations is seriously fucked up over there…was is to come now??
our hearts go out o all innocent lebanese out there
Peace
July 17th, 2006 at 2:29 pm
Sandmonkey iz kool.
July 17th, 2006 at 5:05 pm
Bullshit. It’s raining death and destruction, and all you can do is cheer at a bunch of kids who continue to play in the bombshelter? Is your head up your ass, or just in the sand?
War is peace, indeed, Mr. Orwell.
July 17th, 2006 at 5:43 pm
a fantastic post, very nice to see in these quite worrying times.
July 17th, 2006 at 8:02 pm
> I have to point out to you that the Lebanese man sitting on his roof
> smiling is a Christian man rejoicing in the bombing of the Muslims
> areas. The bride is also a Christians from the Christian stronghold
> of baabda…
Aaaah, Nargizian - you’re one of these christian NAZIs, that were
involved in the slaughter of Sabra/Shatila?
NAZIs that Menachim Begin - a jewish NAZI - tried to make the rulers
of Lebanon.?
Indeed - a phantastic post with Israeli collaborators and leb. nazis.
The master race MUST appreciate this - and they do obviously.
July 17th, 2006 at 9:46 pm
Lebanon -
I don’t know how she would know that guy on his porch is a Christian, she is obviously taking an educated guess.
The Israelis bombed key ports, highways and airports to prevent resupplies coming in from Syria, via Iran, also to try and prevent Iran from shuttling the kidnapped to Iran. To this day Israelis lament what happened to Arad.
Obviously in a perfect world Israel could bring Hezbollah to their knees without hurting any civilians particularly I imagine, those not part of Hezbollah.
However, you and I both know that Hezbollah (as Sandmonkey noted) wants Israel to attack and will purposely hide in civilian areas, I am personally surrised they haven’t begun launching rockets from Churches, or Middle Class Christian neighborhoods as they and the Arafat did in the 80’s and the PLO did/does in Bethlehem.
Syria and Iran want a bloody mess in Lebanon, and they want non Hezbollah civilians to be hit…… then the anti-Syrian sentiment is not at the fore any longer, and Iran and Syria can strengthen their claws in Lebanon once again.
The Israelis have no financial or territorial interest in Lebanon other than quiet border. Free trade with Israel would boom the Lebanese economy versus the sucking out of it from the Syrians. Do the Lebanese not see this?
Mike
July 18th, 2006 at 3:25 pm
Ha! I finally figured it out. SM has an alter ego. A guy so stupid he couldn’t spell I Q if you spotted him the consonant. He posts extremely goofy messages, then signs them eee. I think he must be doing it for comic relief when the posts get too serious. Am I getting warm Sam?
July 18th, 2006 at 6:34 pm
A lovely post. And one that I, as a fellow traveller in the sense I don’t think much of human nature, needed to see. I applaud you. And thanks.
September 15th, 2006 at 10:17 am
[...] The Sandmonkey posted the other day about a young couple in Lebanon who also wed amidst chaos and destruction. [...]
March 14th, 2007 at 1:22 pm
Excellent writing. Keep it up.