Disclaimer*: The articles shared under 'Your Voice' section are sent to us by contributors and we neither confirm nor deny the authenticity of any facts stated below. Parhlo will not be liable for any false, inaccurate, inappropriate or incomplete information presented on the website. Read our disclaimer.
This article was originally submitted by Sarmad Iqbal
O, my dear Lebanon!
I know I’m far from you at the moment as I ponder with distress over your cry (surprisingly audible to me despite a distance of thousands of kilometres between us on the man-made world map but I believe my heart does not have any distance from you and its right there in your jewel that is Beirut) while sitting cross-legged and holding a warm cup of ginger tea in my right hand in my dimly lit room during the wee hours of just another random day in my quarantined life.
I write this letter to you; with an iota of apprehension, after knowing about the pain you are suffering from these days.
You are a pearl and what a shame that instead of being valued you are being maltreated. Don’t forget my dear that you are a pearl of sophistication and beauty in the Mediterranean. You are the only hope I have in a chaotic and turbulent world that is the Middle East. I lament the fall your national currency has suffered but don’t worry good times are about to arrive.
via the new york times
My heart aches when I see the presence of dreadful roadblocks on the wide streets and avenues of Paris’s toughest competitor on the planet that is indeed your jewel that is known to the world by the name of Beirut. I mourn when I see a horrendous display of Molotov cocktails and rocks; in the beautiful alleys of your magnificent cities, and when I see the burning banks in Tripoli.
I pray that you soon get out of these hard times and that we never have to hear again of your default on some foreign debt payment and of the devastation thousands of your businesses have suffered. Wars, invasions, bomb attacks, target killings, assassinations and natural calamities all have visited you throughout your life since your modern birth in 1943 but they had only been able to leave a few scars as none of them had the power to disgrace your eternal beauty. Without any doubt, I proudly assert that no such force exists on earth which is dastardly enough to undo your beautiful soul because you are divine.
Don’t worry this economic crisis will soon become a matter of past.
A matter future generation will read of in their school’s history books; as a brief period of your life, but a period that left after teaching manifold lessons; in not just matters of finance but also in matters of the much needed social unity and cohesion. Soon from Beirut to Sidon, tables will be afloat; with not just generous servings of Kibbeh, Hummus, Fattoush and Tabbouleh but also with love, compassion, peace and kindness. Take care and stay safe.
Yours devotedly and lovingly
Sarmad Iqbal (Pakistani Blogger)
