A thread to conflicted young Lebanese, on leaving.
I can only offer my own personal experience, perhaps it can alleviate some of your pain and worry... (1/?)

For those of you who don’t know, I’m half-Lebanese, on my mom’s side. From age 8 onwards, I grew up in Lebanon.
I have two brothers.
The youngest was first to leave, at 18. I remember crying the day after he had flown to Switzerland. I knew he wouldn’t be back.

The eldest left in his early 20s. Today, he’s British, living in London, and the youngest is Swiss, living in Bangkok.

I refused to go.
3/?)

When my mom died and we buried her here, I left to tend to emotional wounds, but with a firm timeline of when I’d be back (two years max). I was back in a year and 8 months.
By then, even my father had ended up in Canada, and would soon get the nationality. (4/?)

Over the years, there was a running joke in my two main groups of friends: all of them, every single one a Lebanese, left at some point, and the only one who stayed was the non-Lebanese, me.
Haha, funny.
(5/?)

And this was in the days when Lebanon was doing somewhat well, there was work, there was hope, it was a sexy place to be, specially when compared to now. I told anyone who’d listen to stay, or to come back, love your country, invest in your country, believe.

I was wrong.
(6/?)

For the past few months, and the past few weeks specially, I’ve seen one tweet after the next on the timeline, young Lebanese feeling guilt over leaving, worried about their parents, family, friends they’re leaving behind. Doubting they’re making the right decision.
(7/?)

And I’m here to tell you: go; don’t even bother shutting the door behind you, it’s been blown to smithereens anyway, just go. Discover what it means when your brain is free to ponder anything other than the mind-numbing minutiae: water, electricity, the next bomb.
(8/?)

Get bored enough to withdraw from your addiction to adrenaline, and explore the joys of a quieter appreciation for beauty instead of the loud seduction of destruction.
Build something they can’t take away.
They can’t destroy.
Can’t rip value from.
(9/?)

Build something that your children will want to continue, instead of tending to misguided generational loyalty to warlords, passed down, meaningless, yet so intrinsic it rots us from the inside.

Just go.

(10/?)

Let the years pass before you look back again.
If things are worse, you were right to leave.
If they’re better, you can then decide to come back.

Lebanon is an idea, not a reality.
(11/?)

Yes, it’s strongest when we’re together.
But it’s not strong enough to sustain this level of corruption, misery, grief, darkness.

Go, take those who want to go with you, and help those who want to leave after do so too.
(12/?)

As half-Armenian (yes, I’m half everything, moving on), we all grow up with one mantra:
If two of us meet anywhere in the world, see if we do not create a new Armenia.
(Thank you, William Saroyan.)

(13/?)

Create Lebanon wherever you are, because YOU are Lebanon.

Don’t fret over geography.

And if one day you create the idea of a new, beautiful Lebanon with others like you abroad, come back and help create it here.

Until then, go.

(14/14)