It is very painful to see what is happening in Lebanon these days: different religions, and effectively different nations claiming sovereignty over the same small piece of land, and hating one another to death. Lebanon is proof that two nations cannot share a country. History has proven it, and now, regrettably, Lebanon is proving it again. It’s not as though living together is impossible; it’s just that no one wants to do it because it requires rising above the ego, and people would rather die than grow out of selfishness.
Because of it, a country can maintain relative stability only if there is just one nation there, and they can live together like a big family or a clan. If there is a sense of kinship, people will agree to make concessions. Otherwise, they will concede nothing.
There are problems even in homogeneous countries. Communists, socialists, capitalists, and all kinds of “ists” and “isms” have their disagreements, but if they have a single origin, they will find a way to get along, or at least make peace after a clash. In the absence of a common ancestry, there is no basis for reconciliation, and disintegration is a certainty.
Despite its obvious hopelessness, nations are migrating by the millions. From Africa, Asia, and from Latin America, millions of people are crossing borders and continents by foot in search of a better future. The merger of nations is happening regardless of the odds. Therefore, if we want to avert a major clash in Europe and in the US, we must learn how to rise above our egos and engender kinship where it does not exist today.
Clearly, it is a long and delicate process, but it is imperative for the survival of humanity. Since we are already living together, without learning how to do it successfully, we will destroy ourselves and destroy our countries.
We will avoid catastrophe only if there is wide-ranging consent to rise above our differences and form a new, common identity that we can all adopt. The roots of the cataclysm have been sown, the shoots have budded, but the storm has not yet started. It is up to everyone to make a joint decision to disperse the clouds of hatred and save ourselves from the deluge. There is still time, but merely a few years, at most.
Photo Caption:
A combination picture shows a man who is shot and rescued after trying to fire a rocket-propelled grenade, during a gunfire in Beirut, Lebanon October 14, 2021. REUTERS/Aziz Taher
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