32.Exhale
(16 Feb.
2020)
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A building collapse due to decades of neglect by
its owner. Strangely, the ground-floor bakery survived due to renovations by its renter. (29 Jan. 2020 – Tabaris, Beirut) |
For about
four months the country has been holding its breath. Actually, long before that
the country had been practicing holding its breath, as the economy and policies
of government upon government sagged and sagged over the years, to the point of
rupture. This past week the newly-formed cabinet, still the target of some
protests, received approval from parliament to begin the work of saving the
country from total collapse. Lebanon has always convinced itself that it is too
important for the countries of the region and the West to let it fail. And
therefore, corruption, theft and mismanagement of the public sector have ruled
the day for as long as people can remember. Well, surprise!
People
write and ask us how we are managing with all that’s going on in the country.
Aside from the psychic stress everyone endures, we face no particular hardship,
due to the special nature of our employment. But how are actual citizens
faring? While walking through an upscale neighborhood last week I noticed a
grown man standing next to a dumpster carefully going through garbage and
removing what was edible to put in his bag. Heretofore I would only see
scavengers searching for scrap items to recycle or sell; only after passing him
did I realize what I had just seen. He was wise to choose a dumpster in that
neighborhood, where the likelihood of good quality and quantity food waste is
greater. Yes, poverty is steadily advancing, and is moving more people squarely
into nutritional insecurity. This is the picture in the city, anyway.
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Upper row shows the early days of the uprising,
with mere barbed wire festooning the Grand Serail and Banks St. Lower row shows the serious concreting of the centers of government. (Jan. & Feb. 2020 – Riad el Solh - Beirut) |
Among the political elite – and
there’s an overabundance of them (too bad Lebanon can’t export them to raise a
little cash allay part of the national debt) – it is in fashion to say, “Oh,
I’m also against corruption. We need to join together and find out where all
these stolen funds are, and make new laws, blah, blah, blah.” Lebanese who hear
these speeches are disgusted by them, because of the well-known secret that those
who today rail against corruption and incompetence are guilty of the very
things they decry. The relevance of the Bible appears once again in these
circumstances, perfectly described by the Apostle Paul: “You who teach others…
do you teach yourself?” (Read Romans 2.21-23 for an excellent assessment of
today’s “speechifiers”.)
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This is what protestors think of Lebanon’s banks,
and what they did to express that sentiment. (15 Jan. 2020 – Hamra - Beirut) |
Another casualty of the times is
health care. If you have a chronic condition that requires regular medication,
you might have to go without it for a couple of weeks until a new supply can be
imported. If you are experiencing chest discomfort, you might brush it off and
not see a doctor, as the healthcare system does not cover diagnostic
assessments. You will eventually see the doctor, but only after an ambulance
has brought you to the emergency department. Or the other door across the way. In
response to all of this, more than a few doctors and some hospitals have set up
weekly low- or no-cost consultation hours to help those falling through the
cracks, and a number of them are even waiving their surgical fees for the truly
poor. But how much longer can private citizens and organizations bear this
burden?
For
years Armenian agencies have been used to taking up the slack as best they can in
the absence of proper governmental services. Social service agencies have
networked themselves to serve the many low- and middle-class Armenians (plus in
recent years quite a few Armenian and non-Armenian refugees from unrest next
door and next door to next door). The income lifelines these agencies have
relied on are becoming increasingly problematic, while those they are caring
for continue their need for care, irrespective of whether its being paid for.
Also,
for decades the only reliable retirement plans for Lebanese have been to either
receive remittances from their emigrated children or move overseas to live with
them. A third possibility exists: to keep working until you “drop dead”. No
wonder there is a lack of seasoned retirees in the churches, a demographic that
is the backbone of any healthy ministry.
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And this is what many people feel about living in Lebanon. (15 Feb. 2020 – Geitawi - Beirut) |
Two days ago was the fifteenth
anniversary commemoration of the assassination of PM Rafiq Hariri. Sevag, Maria
and I were here at the time of that explosion, and we each have our memories of
that momentous day. Schools, government offices and businesses close annually in
observance of the day (and not because of St. Valentine). This year’s event
featured the recently-resigned PM and political heir of his assassinated father,
working the crowd as if addressing a campaign rally. The event also featured a
video review of what’s happened to the country and its economy for the past 30
years, with the main message of: “It wasn’t my fault”. Each new event that occurs
just makes this tragi-comedy more… interesting (for those drama fans out there).
Actually,
political assassinations are a way of life here. If you look up “Assassinated
Lebanese” you’ll find a whole page dedicated to this, listing at least 36 public
figures eliminated here in the past 100 years. And this doesn’t include attempts
that only maimed their targets. If the government declared a holiday for each
assassination, my guess is that an entire extra month the country would be
closed for business!
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Offstage at the C.E. youth event, anxiously
reviewing their lines, right? (11 Jan. 2020 – Armenian Evangelical Church of Ashrafieh, Geitawi - Beirut) |
Lest it appear all gloom-and-doom
here, in the midst of all of this the Armenian community is managing to
continue its spiritual, educational and cultural output. Recently the
Gulbenkian Foundation in Portugal announced an initiative to develop the
teaching and use of Western Armenian in Lebanon, which, followed by Syria, are
the only places in the world where Western Armenian is a viable, daily language
of family, education, and commerce. It may seem strange to westerners, or to
those steeped in western thinking, that one of the callings of the Armenian
church in all its forms is to maintain a strong cultural sense as it goes about
its spiritual mission. Although it is valid throughout the Diaspora, it is
nearly impossible to see by those who embrace the majority culture. For them,
it appears that the church should be on a purely spiritual mission, often not
realizing how their own Christian outlook is so deeply grounded in the dominant
culture surrounding them.
In
January Armenian Evangelical youth presented (in Armenian) a post-Christmas
view of the main players in Jesus’ birth narratives, reflecting not only on
what was to come for them, but also helping young people think about what is to
come right here where they are, and what their attitude of faith should be. I
was grateful to be involved in the planning, and was thrilled to see the church
filled with over 150 youth that night.
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LebCat 32: This is my laptop now, since you refuse
to give me lap space. (24 Jan. 2020 – the late Beirut Cat Café, Mar Mikhael - Beirut) |
Two
nights ago a newly-published booklet containing a dozen photos and lyrics of
the great Gomidas (you can look him up under “Komitas”) had its public release.
The main speaker, Shaghig Khudaverdian, a lecturer at Haigazian University, who
stated that the essential task for any people wishing to survive is to speak their
own language and sing their own songs, and thereby continue to breathe on this
earth. And as if to
demonstrate this, three different Armenian school choirs (including Armenian
Evangelical) took turns on stage to sing selections from Gomidas’ pen. Afterward,
I had the honor of joining Armenian Apostolic and Armenian Catholic
representatives in congratulating the three choral conductors, and then dedicating
the publication by pouring wine over it (in Armenian the word for this
literally means “wine-dedication”).
So,
here’s a toast, which in many languages, including Armenian, goes: “To
life!” [LNB]
