Back in the ‘Hood…Or What’s Left of It

It’s 7:40 Sunday evening. My friend and I are driving, and we have just entered Beirut’s Southern Suburb (a.k.a. Dahiyé). Smoggy “air” fills the atmosphere, making it impossible to see much farther. There’s traffic slowly moving around, and there’s nothing different from were we left off 40 days ago … Except for the dust…and the visible destruction that we have finally started to see.

We drive past a bombed bridge, and a building that’s become a pile of stones except for the remains of a few hanged clothes, and some glimpses of furniture. For a moment I fantasize that the building was abandoned, and the left-to-dry laundry – along with many other items – was left behind. But the rotten stench of human decay which is creeping even through the closed windows of the car tells me otherwise.

We pass by another collapsed building…
…and another one with huge holes in it…
…here’s another hole in the bridge…

In summary, there’s a collapsed building on every lane. And the smell is everywhere.

People are walking past the traffic looking like they always have; they are the residents of the area. Women in headscarves hold handkerchiefs to their noses, perhaps to muzzle the odor or to keep the dust from their lungs. Most probably both.

The dark has set in for quite some time now, and the lights are back on, many shining from the remaining buildings and others from the shops and the lampposts on the streets.

Above the ruins, fireworks are blasting in shimmers, celebrating victory. As we drive slowly underneath them, I wonder who really won beneath the face of our victory. It’s too soon to tell, because this was not the conventional State-to-State war as we know it, but a war of another kind. Still, I ponder, even if we didn’t win, we didn’t let them win either. And that’s a victory in itself…albeit a small one, I add to myself as I glance back down to the ruins by my side, slowly drifting back to the moment.

But one thing’s for sure: in this land of contradictions, where people celebrate their victory above the debris despite the losses, there’s no mistaking that life goes on even more fervently…