From Martyrs to the Living

Ghassan Charbel
Saad Hariri won and then cried next to his father’s tomb. So did Nayla Tueni and Nadim Bashir Gemayel. Sami Gemayel won and then cried next to the tomb of his brother Pierre. Sleiman Tony Frangieh won and then was flooded with memories and tears.
The country’s scenes are heartbreaking.
Every winner is welcomed by tears – searing tears that burn the joy of victory.
Hezbollah achieved a sweeping victory at the heart of its community. The Shiites voted for the stream of martyrs. Walid Kamal Jumblatt achieved a sweeping victory at the heart of his community. The Druzes voted for their first martyr and all those who followed. Samir Geagea knows that the Lebanese Forces supporters voted for their first martyr and all those who followed. The same can be said of Amine Gemayel and Dory Chamoun.
The country’s scenes are heartbreaking.
In Sidon, the martyr’s sister competed with the martyr’s son. In Tripoli a martyr’s supporters competed with a martyr’s brother. In Zghorta a martyr’s son competed with a martyr’s son.
The winner was flooded with memories and tears. The loser was flooded with memories and tears. It is as if the country were a jungle of martyrs and of tears.
From Marouf Saad in 1975 to Wissam Eid in 2008… a river of martyrs. This one defended the country’s borders. This other one defended his existence in it. That one defended the borders of his freedom. That other one defended the borders of his fears or vision. Strong men turned into weak men by the great game. Free men turned into prisoners. Brave men turned into martyrs. How we wished for the martyr we were burying to be the last martyr. But he wasn’t. We renewed our wish after a new martyr and our disappointment was renewed.
A confession must be made. We mastered goodbyes and condolences. We excelled at eulogies. It has been decades since we wrote about a light, even at the end of the tunnel. Every time there was a glimmer of hope, someone came to snatch it away. Every time there was the hint of a dream, someone came to cut it short.
Heartbreaking scenes…
The walls have forgotten the images that crossed them. Neither winter nor time is merciful. But the images are still hanging on the walls of houses and in the bones of their inhabitants. The face of a bereaved mother gets wrinkled next to the images. Sadness kills the features of a widow. Pain flows in the veins of an orphan.
It is like a jungle of martyrs and tears.
A good citizen is standing on the balcony. He wants his children to go to school and graduate. He wants them to find job opportunities. He wants to get rid of his grief clothes. He wants to stop marking years with the names of martyrs. He wants to avoid spending his years between two funerals. He wants to avoid standing in the long queue at the Canadian and Australian embassies. This Shiite Sunni Maronite Druze Orthodox citizen bows before martyrs but wants a country for the living. Martyrs are our crown but the living are our future.
The recent elections have no meaning if they do not promise the Lebanese a state in which to live, or a quasi-state with an open door towards its completion. The absence of the state assassinates both the martyrs and the living; truth and hope. The absence of the state wastes the blood of those residing under and above the ground.
I bow before all martyrs. They are the country’s crown and medals. But I ask Nabih Berri, Hassan Nasrallah, Michel Aoun, Saad Hariri, Amine Gemayel, Walid Jumblatt, and Samir Geagea to deal with the election results as an engagement to put the balance of martyrs, in all their positions, at the service of the establishment of a state for the living… A fair state with modern institutions… A state that accommodates the oddities of the Lebanese mine… A state that accommodates the various colors, allegiances, and interpretations under the ceiling of the law.
The martyrs demand the leaders of the living to cross to the state and take tough and painful decisions. Nothing hurts martyrs more than welcoming more martyrs. The martyrs know that the happy country is the one that does not need more martyrs.