لكن رح نرجع? Are We Going Back?

On this, the 37th anniversary of the start of the Lebanese War, I am haunted by an old Fairuz song, "Rej'et El Aasfoura"... Haunted with a distant and detached sense of nostalgia, the way one misses a loved one years after their passing: with remembrance, but not much pain. I'm haunted by this song, not with cynicism--strangely enough--but with much skepticism. Years after the War had started and ended, and the wars after it have started and ended, do I still believe in the "True Lebanon"? And do I still believe that it's coming? Like the millions of Lebanese living outside of Lebanon--far more than those living inside it--I have made a choice, and the choice is essentially a skeptical one: I don't believe in this "Great Country". And yet, this country is part of me, and I part of it, whether I like it or not. Like one coming to terms with a deeply flawed parent, I have come to peace with this country; may it rest in peace...