We have had many wars, the last one of the 2006, which even today I can not understand who won. We always breathe war air and often we civilians pay the highest price: from 1975 to 1990, more than 250 thousand dead and nobody can explain why?
I want to tell you about what I experienced, I share with you a brief memory of the war (it would take pages and pages to tell it in full): '' harb el elgaa '', it is called, between two Christian parties: Aoun and Geageaa, a never-adolescence lived, stolen, unforgettable moments.
I had 13 years when it all started. I was in the school, near the sea, with my two sisters; a nice area, in the center of the town of Debaye. It was good weather (I remember it because, with my friend Celine, during the break, we had taken selfies with her Polaroid snapshot) and while we were in class with the French teacher, we heard the bombs falling right next to us. Looking out the window at the sight of bombs falling into the sea, raising tall columns of water was even amusing. But in the class the panic immediately came: some wept, others wanted to be able to go home to their mother; even the teacher was upset because she had a child on another floor of the school. Despite the great confusion, Desirè, the professor, invited us to remain calm: "it will pass", he repeated, "it is not the first time that happens". Then the priest came and said we had to go down for more security. I started to cry, I called my mother and my sisters. All the students were gathered on the ground floor; we were so many and we waited for our relatives to come and pick us up to take us home: with the school bus you couldn't do it anymore, because the bombs were falling everywhere! When my mother arrived, her face was yellow. He immediately took us away and, driving his Peugeot 407 like crazy, we soon got home. Fortunately, my house was near the school, but it was always a risk. I heard the sound of bombing and I often saw bombs falling even near us. At one point one fell right next to the car, making us feel strong pressure. My mother screamed to stay with her head down and I was crying and I said "I don't want to die!". In 3 minutes we arrived home, an 4 storey apartment building, where we, with other families, were on the top floor. All the neighbors had gathered in the cellars, a place for 20 people where we were more than 50, without water or food, without electricity for two days. You couldn't go outside because the bombs fell everywhere, both at night and during the day. By hearing the hiss of bombs or explosions, we had become able to understand how much the bomb had missed us and where it had gone to fall. It was hard to breathe and we were only allowed to go up to the first floor to go to the toilet and get food. Once, while waiting for my turn, I saw a bomb fall on the pine tree in front of me, which turned into a bubble of fire. I thought that the next bomb would surely hit the building, I put my head down and, in fact, a few seconds later the building shook and I could feel the crash of impact. The bomb had hit the fourth floor, but not our apartment. Thank God there were neither dead nor wounded in my area. In the following days I learned that my friend Celine had died in this dirty war; a bomb fell into the kitchen, while they were eating. Even Professor Desire died in her car on her way home from school.
I am Lebanese and I am proud to be so, because I have experienced terrible moments and I appreciate every day, and every day I thank God for being alive and breathing. This is why we Lebanese know how to live: you only live once !!!
We never have stability in my land, or I can even say in the Middle East, because the Arab peoples do not have the same vision, they are not united. Everything is a matter of interest: gold, black gold ..., there is no justice, the powerful - that is, the richer command, the words have no value and neither do the actions count: what matters is only politics, which always changes ... and the people always pay the price!
Surely it will not be the last war, and a new cold war, even harder, is coming ....
From Beirut ... with peace.
