I am the Lebanese teenager.
I go to school 6 days a week. I come back home, have lunch and study, spend some time with my parents when they come back, have dinner and go to bed.
I go out on Saturday nights.
I spend Sundays with my family.
I spend Christmas with my family.
Go out on New Year's Eve and come back home the next morning for the traditional family lunch.
I do something useful during summer.
And it goes on and on, and it has always been this way.
And it will always be this way.
I am going to college somewhere in Lebanon, because that's what my brother did, because that's what my sister did, because that's what everybody does.
I am going to graduate and everyone is going to celebrate.
I am going to work for some time, then I am going to leave Lebanon for a couple of years.
I am going to come back and work at my father's company.
I am going to start a family and raise my kids just the way I have been raised.
They are going to have the life I had.
A life where there is no place for their dreams and expectations.
A life where the world is not their oyster.
Can I change anything about that?
I can try. I can work my ass off to get a scholarship somewhere and leave this country.
I do not like this country and I will do everything I can to leave as soon as possible.
Typo?: you go to school six days a week (not that hard to figure out who I am now :P)
ReplyDeleteYou may be able to change your future in the sense of being able to leave Lebanon and move to a developed country where you're not a persecuted minority, but in the end your past of persecution will still be with you....
One day you'll get out of here, we both will, I just know it.
ReplyDelete@Anon1: Not a typo actually... Sadly, not a typo...
ReplyDeleteI don't like the guessing game. I'm bad at it. But I have my ideas. :P
If I move out of here my past will always be a memory and something I learned from. However, if I stay here I will live my life with regrets and dreams...
@Anon2: We have to work hard to leave... But if we want it that bad, I'm sure we'll figure out a way :)
The real sad thing is this: Go out on New Year's Eve and come back home the next morning .... teenaged drinking...
ReplyDelete@Anonymous: Don't worry about that the whole family is hungover, it's actually fun! :P
ReplyDeleteDad is getting drunk with his teen son? so sad...
ReplyDeleteI said hungover, not getting drunk. :)
ReplyDelete