A few days ago, a new acquaintance asked me whether or not I liked Lebanon. This is always a difficult question when you are a guest in someone else’s country. As I think about my experience here, it strikes me as important that I only lived in Lebanon for four months before the Hariri assassination. Could I really call what has been going on since then the real Lebanon? Do I even know the real Lebanon? I wonder…
Along these lines, it’s been interesting to me to see the changes in society as the events of last February march on. From what I’m told, things are quite bad for the country economically these days. However, from what I directly observe, and from the macroeconomic indicators, the economy is doing reasonably well from a historical perspective. So, this begs the question, is the sky really falling, or am I hanging around with negative people?
4 comments:
aren'T good citizens alwys complaing about the economical situation?
Karin
at least here in germany it's a must or you won't get a "Aufenthaltsgenehmigung" as a foreigner
as an american who just visted lebanon for a month, i completely agree with the predicament this question poses. i had never been there before, so who am i to judge what the real lebanon is? i did love my time there though. very refreshing and amazing trip. i hope you and your family continue to enjoy it in some small way.
i think lebanese people are negative.
so economic indicators are up, people are spending money, but they're still saying the economy's a mess? sounds like the states!
(blame bush)
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