Message from Lebanon

Some time ago I mentioned a blog by a young Lebanese professional who had business contacts in Israel. Life for him lately has become almost too interesting to bear. I urge you to read his blog to get some sense of what is happening on the ground. He writes with beautiful English, but an Arab sensibility. He does not use language to establish a strong narrative nor to paint a concrete image. Rather he uses a torrent of words to lead you into the emotional center of his world. Here is the first paragraph of his last post.

The sound of death is horrifying. It’s doesn’t sound of bombs or missiles. Guns or F-16s. Those are the sounds of war and misplaced ideology. We become accustomed to those through 42 inch plasma screens showing embedded playstationesque reporting. Women and children becoming mere statistics in the fight for high ratings and even higher ad revenues.

No, death has more horrifying sounds.

What to us are pictures of nameless death and destruction, to him are pictures of his hometown, his relatives and friends, an old family friend psychologically destroyed. His sister screaming on the phone.