63. Trouble in the Air (7 October 2024)
A song from the
Negro Spiritual repertoire, sung by one of my favorite gospel ensembles, the “Wings
Over Jordan Choir”, has been repeating and repeating in my ear: A sooty autumn sky dawns over Beirut
(seen from Geitawi - 7 Oct. 2024)
Over my head I see trouble in the air.
Over my head I see trouble in the air.
Over my head I see trouble in the air.
There must be a God somewhere.
The song, “Over My Head”, is just one Spiritual from an entire genre that is a rich treasury of cries for freedom from oppression. Yet we see how people and nations effortlessly switch from being the “oppressed” to being the “oppressors” these days, having learned nothing – or having forgotten much – of how and why one must avoid falling into this trap.
Here in Lebanon there is constantly trouble
in the air. The incessant droning sounds of killing machines (courtesy of the
United States) have set the entire country on edge, and not just the “offending
party” that our southern neighbors find so objectionable. Similarly, the jets cynically
breaking the sound barrier over Lebanon’s north, south, east and west (again,
courtesy of the United States) is a blatant declaration to the terrorized
Lebanese of all political persuasions that, with apologies to The Outer
Limits, “We control the horizontal. We control the vertical.”Ceremony repatriating - from Rome - the
remains of Cardinal Aghajanian (1895-1971)
(Martyrs' Square - 12 Sept. 2024)
On clear nights I walk out onto the balcony and look up to see dim triangular points of light, hundreds if not thousands of them, blanketing the sky over Beirut. They cannot be heard, only seen. They are reconnaissance drones in a vast network, with eyes probing every square centimeter of the city, monitoring moves and tracking targets. Invisible to the naked eye during the daytime, I keep them in mind when I venture out of the apartment, and tell myself that I, too, am a mere assortment of data for a regime not interested in dwelling in peace and safety, but one bent on annihilating its adversaries, causing more than a little collateral damage (a.k.a. deaths and destruction) along the way.
After another night of relentless
bombing campaigns (bombs courtesy of the United States, also providing U.S.
manufacturers with much-desired performance data), this morning I went out to
the balcony to witness a thick blanket of soot covering the city, mixing with
the cloud cover of early autumn. Reminiscent of the burning tires of the so-called
“Cedar Revolution” of 2019, this morning’s acrid air was a reminder that only a
short distance away neighborhoods were smoldering, and high-rise buildings were
being reduced to rubble.As the trash piles up daily, one wonders,
"They collect it and dump it... where?"
(Khalil Badawi - 29 Sept. 2024)
Everyone is familiar with the
adversaries in the conflict of the past year, painted in the press almost
exclusively as peace-loving citizens facing evil terrorists. The decades and
decades of dispossession fueling the desperate brutality or calculated
onslaughts of these groups are set aside in favor of harping on one date,
October 7th, as if the world as we know it came into being on that day last
year. As a person of faith, a Christian believer, I know that context is
everything. But this deep awareness of context is missing from most reporting
and commentary, as well as being completely absent from official declarations
by the governments conducting their onslaught. It is a willful omission, certainly,
because it would necessitate sympathy for those being oppressed, something that
would empower the “peaceniks” and necessitate thinking diplomatically, and not
exclusively militarily.The late, lamented "Way In Book Shop",
now selling toilet paper and cleansers
(Hamra - 8 Sept. 2024)
As a Christian, my thoughts also go to the “just war” concept, which is frequently bandied about to justify the excessive military campaign the United States refuses to rein in. What has transpired this past year does not fit very well into the “just war” theory; at the same time these campaigns quite correctly fit the definition of “genocide”. Of course, casuists everywhere continue to enthusiastically argue in favor of the first and against the second, prolonging the torture of Palestinians as well as Lebanese, in order that “we achieve our goals”, as is being repeated ad nauseam. They are committed to destroying the enemies that they had a part in creating in the first place.
And who are the majority of these “enemies”,
numbering well over 40,000? Unlike the 1,200 or so who were murdered a year ago,
they are the nameless and detail-less men, women and children who cannot run
fast enough from the “evacuation orders” before the fighter-bombers demonstrate
their heartless power: rescuers trying to reach the dead and injured; a mother
and her three daughters killed yesterday when their house was targeted; a man
desperate to tend to his olive groves poisoned by white phosphorus bombings; a two-year-old
whose legs were amputated, watching his friends run and play and asking his mother,
“Will my legs grow back?” Practically speaking, these are the targets, for the most part.Refugee children taking a break from their
sales of tissues at intersections
(Mar Mikhael - 14 Sept. 2024)
In the Old Testament, when God set a new standard for his people in dealing with offenses, he declared “eye for eye, tooth for tooth” (Exod. 21.24) to put an end to the disproportionate response to injuries so prevalent in the society of that day. He also instructed his people to designate cities of refuge, so that those seeking vengeance for injuries would not take it upon themselves to be judge, jury and executioner. Now, it seems there has been a huge step backward from this divinely-ordained standard; and rather than worshiping and obeying Yahweh, the Lord of all, obeisance is being done to Mars, the mythological god of war. This is without even addressing the standard set by Jesus Christ, who acknowledged the Old Testament rule yet developed it into one in which reconciliation is possible (Matt. 5.38-48).
We are spending these days mostly at
home, with necessary ventures to buy groceries, and having conversations with
friends about the events of each day, or the preceding one, or the coming one. We
listen to the fears of young and old, some declaring their loyalty to this besieged
and beleaguered country, and others cursing their fate at being here at such a
time. Enduring the sounds of earth-shaking bombing not far from home, a friend
told me with tears how her seven-year-old son pleaded with her, “Mama, can we
emigrate?” It is a struggle for many to keep clinging to faith, to hope and to
love, focusing on the Author of those precious gifts. LebCat 63: A wall just wide
enough for a kitten
(Mar Mikhael - 9 Sept. 2024)
The final stanza of that Spiritual illuminates this struggle:
Over my head I see glory in the air.
Over my head I see glory in the air.
Over my head I see glory in the air.
There must be a God somewhere.
…And the prayer given us by the Lord Jesus: “Deliver us from evil (or the Evil One), for yours is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory.” May it be so, dear God, and soon. [LNB]