I am quite literally unable to work.
I am unable to sit in the sweltering heat in a darkened make-shift work space at home tethering my laptop to the 3G (is it even 3?) on my phone so I can get through part of the day's work, when every nerve & fibre
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in my body & mind is silently screaming every curse word I have ever learned, & many new ones I am inventing on the daily, hurling them at every president, minister, MP, militia leader, war-lord current & former, pharmacy lord, fuel-station lord, bank lord (...)
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every & any single one of them that my mind cares to remember..
I am unable to work, thinking of all those who have no work to be unable to do.. of all those sitting down in silence mourning their dead, their killed, mourning their lives, mourning their tears, blood, & toil
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mourning their fates.
& so I curse again & more.
This time cursing every single devout acolyte & follower of those I had cursed before, cursing every single political party devotee, every single self-proclaimed warrior of their sect
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cursing every single apathetic pathetic cheerleader of the criminal gang.
My pulse races, anxiety has a field day across my solar plexus..
I have so much to do, & so much planning to do for the weeks ahead.
"Planning?!" My mind cracks up laughing
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enjoying the reprieve from cursing.
"Planning?! Planning what & how exactly?! Pray tell me your plans!"
& so I slip into another bout of cursing, staring at an ever-so-slightly flickering screen that is wondering how it will use up its remaining 30 some percent battery power.
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I curse every single one whose face I can conjure up, I rage against their being, I rage against my make-shift office space, against my sitting down doing so little of what I have to do, what I need to do, what I want to do...
I rage against an ineffectual rage.
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I stare at the screen again, unable to work, unable to not work.
I take a deep breath, step outside on the balcony, stare up at a clear blue stretch, & catch myself seeking the bottom right corner of the sky to see how much battery life it may still have remaining.
โข โข โข
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I have kept myself away from Twitter most of this past day/night..
My nerves are really tightly strung, & my mind a chaotic playground for devout pessimism.. So I figured a bit of time off would do them good.
I log on, & the first 4 tweets I catch on my #Lebanon timeline
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have to do with the power cuts: stories of sleeping (rather: inability to sleep) in the heat, others of extremely low mobile or computer battery charge, & one post even asking when will the people say "enough"!
But perhaps that's just it. Perhaps the people won't say enough
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Not because they are incapable or unwilling.
But perhaps, just perhaps, the people haven't gotten enough.
Is it possible that the people have grown so accustomed so fast to this state of utter collapse that their minds have now not only grown accustomed to it but actually
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Imagine dear friends a country that suffered a cataclysmic explosion due to criminal negligence by the 'ruling class', an explosion that killed over 200 people & injured over 6000!
Now imagine an investigation that drags & drags.. & drags..
Until more than 4 months later...
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the attorney general in charge finally indicts some of those deemed responsible: a caretaker Prime Minister, an ex Minister of Finance, & 2 ex Ministers of Public Works.
Now imagine that those indicted refuse his invitation for interrogation..
Pretty bizarre so far, right?
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But it gets better: so now imagine if you will, if you can, the various powers-to-be, feudal lords, kleptocrats, top clergy, coming from across the spectrum & flocking to the defense of the accused!
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A propos some of the recent discussion on re-envisioning #Lebanon's political system, today's bit of 'useless' #Trivia is dedicated to
๐๐ฆ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ข๐ญ๐ช๐ด๐ฎ ๐
The term federalism as a political union is first attested in 1787 referencing American federalism..
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In its broadest sense, federalism actually seeks a strong central government along with the distribution of power between the central government & constituent entities, & thrives on negotiation between the constituents & central authority.
The term itself is derived from..
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'Federal' which in fact originates from theological rather than political discourse. In the 17th century the term referred to covenants between humans & God, from the Latin foedus meaning covenant or treaty, from Proto-Indo-European root *bheidh meaning to trust.
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I am sorry.
I am sorry because I & my generation failed you, miserably.
We failed you when we excused ourselves for doing so little to change what we knew had to be changed, when we sank into defeatism & apathy...
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& when we then decided to throw the whole burden of #change on you.
We had our times & moments, when we rose up against enemy occupation that came from South of our country, & then again against that which came from the East cloaked as 'friend' & disguised as 'ally'...
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& then we sat down & wallowed in our victories & glory, smiling & grinning as we bowed our heads to the yoke of internal occupation & subjugation, a yoke we had ourselves fashioned & gifted to our very own homegrown tyrants & sectarian chieftains...
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