Navigating the Flood

When I drove past my first mega pile of trash in Hamra a few months ago, not once did it occur to me that one day the whole country would be bathing in a majestic flood of trash.

October rains came in too heavy this time, it seems. Or was it the lavishly refined garbage of our nation that could not stand spending another week at home and had to go for a swim around Beirut?

I am still quite unable to decide honestly. Both hypotheses look equally convincing to my impaired reasoning. How did my reasoning become impaired? Well, that’s a whole different story. Let’s just say that when you live in a chronically incapacitated republic run by an obstinately incapacitated government and inhabited by equally incapacitated citizens, your reasoning abilities are bound to be affected in one way or another.

But just before I turn into a complete lunatic by force of inhaling too much nonsense (and probably catch some virus by force of inhaling too much polluted air), allow me one last stylistic intervention.

We’ve tried protests, peaceful and unpeaceful, media debates, honest and deceitful, speeches, compact and novel-length, jokes, witty and pitiful. We’ve come up with hashtags, songs, games, artistic displays and a whole bunch of vain articles like this one.

We’ve tried every single trick in the book, and yet haven’t even come close to witnessing real change. WHY? Again, due to my impaired reasoning, I am by no means in a position to understand, answer or attempt to answer this question. But just to put things into a bit of a perspective, I will try to end on a high note. Or at least a slightly less impaired one. Change is not what you do, change is who you are. Are you willing to change yourself before the trash system changes you?