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my hometown. Yet, I reminded myself that heritage. To investigate questions of identity
I was missing a place that no longer exists; it is imperative to revisit the past, examine
a place that left me before I even considered memory and criticize the political structure
leaving it. Coming back to Lebanon during throughout the years. Throughout my writings
winter break of my first year reaffirmed my and interrogations and that of others, I hope
doubts. I am still holding on by a thread, to find a stance where the Lebanese identity
promising Beirut that I would come back encompasses being a survivor, a victim, a
even when Beirut itself wasn’t there to hear fighter, a lover and an opposer all at once.
my supplications. But being Lebanese for
me means remembering what once was and Article first published Jan. 30, 2023, 12:30
keep fighting for it. So I did, in my own way, a.m. in the Standford Daily. Reproduced
thousands of miles away. with the authorization of the author.

In Lebanon, politics represent a struggle
for inclusion, self-actualization and social
justice. Politics represent a real barrier to
opportunities of nurturing civil virtues that Gheed El Bizri ‘25 serves as the Grind Desk Editor for Vol. 262.
The sound, the blood, the destruction on to say we have triumphed after investigations reinforce prospects for greater measures From Lebanon, she seeks to major in Psychology and minor
Aug. 4? We don’t remember what happened for the Beirut blast have been suspended of autonomy and empowerment. But the in Human Rights and has a strong interest in creative writing
because we don’t know what really happened. multiple times, after murderers are roaming problem of claiming one’s identity in Lebanon and journalism. She hopes to use storytelling as a way of
We know the names of the victims and not freely in the streets, after we have hit rock isn’t confined to its political systems. It also putting into words the most complex human emotions, staying
the perpetrators. We know that there are bottom over and over again? manifests itself in people’s mindsets because connected to people all around the world and banding them
people in the government who disregarded religious or sectarian bias lies at the core of together. She is also interested in representing her country,
the fact that there were 2,750 tonnes of Remembering is essential not only to honor contemporary Lebanon’s lack of identity. Lebanon, and amplifying the voice of her people through her
ammonium nitrate stored in the port, but victims and to fulfill obligations, but to The truth is that religious and sectarian work. Contact Gheed at thegrind ‘at’ stanforddaily.com.
not their names nor how many did. We don’t reinforce the collective Lebanese identity. It extremism, in short confessionalism, divided
have a clear understanding of the event that is easy to say that we are Lebanese without the country to the extent that it became hard
changed our lives forever. Our right to know understanding what it really means. to claim our identity as Lebanese.
the truth has been denied. Therefore, we don’t By Lebanese, I am referring to every person
remember enough in order to forget. Yet, who has the nationality, who was born here, In the long journey of finding the truth, of
one could draw the line between individual who left and never came back, who stayed finding a stance between vengeance and
and collective forgetting. While the former and never left, who feels like an outcast in forgiveness, in defending the right to justice
is usually involuntary, the latter is generally their communities and who feels at home and creating a climate conducive to human
purposeful and deliberate . every time they visit. rights, there is also hope. We, Lebanese
people, can face who we were before and
In order to memorialize the country’s The reason why I mention this is because shape who we could become and who we
pathological history of protracted civil strife, people can be homeless in at least three want to become after. Unity and hope should
The views,
information, monuments have been created. The basic existential senses. They suffer the angst of be the overarching themes and driving forces
or opinions dilemma the Lebanese face today is to know being dislodged from their most enduring behind a nationwide revolution.
expressed are how to remember all the ugly atrocities of attachments they suffer from being outcast
solely those the war without lessening their horrors. The from their own environments or they feel Being Lebanese is not only a feeling, but a
of the author problem is to figure out the right way to obligated to reassemble a damaged identity deeply-embedded belief that exists that is
and do not recall the war without sanitizing it by making and broken history. Is it possible to be victims acknowledged and is recognized. Claiming
necessarily it more tolerable to remember. Another and survivors at the same time? Can we be our identity — personal or collective — is
represent problem with commemoration is to create both homeless and Lebanese? claiming what is ours. This impulse for
those of Diva memorials to recall mournful events without seeking refuge in darkened places is sustained
International/ falling into the trap of making it a celebration I not only struggle with answering these by two opposed forms of preservation:
International of glories of past heroic events. Maybe questions but with knowing if there even to remember and to forget. One might lead
Diplomat these lines can be drawn by distinguishing is an answer. I spent my first quarter of my to assume nostalgic predispositions to
and its memorials and monuments. The former freshman year at Stanford terribly homesick. return to a past anchored in questionable
contributors. opens up spaces to mourn and the latter has I would write poetry and compare the food authenticity and the other is to reinvent
an element of triumphalism. Is it really fair to what was once served on a large table in communicable solidarities and threatened

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