Today I was listening to old tunes sang by legends about Lebanon… I chanted along to the words that expressed love and passion towards our country… I felt goose bumps… What I felt was not something I ever thought I would feel…
When you’re younger you dread hearing the words “I told you so”…. And honestly I am now telling myself, “They told me so…” Who’s they?
‘They” represents everyone who once told me never to take things for granted… my parents, my grandparents, my teachers, the older generation of acquaintances… everyone and anyone who ever told me as a kid that Lebanon is special, to appreciate what I have, where I live and what my country stands for…
Yes, I nodded… But when you’re younger you always have this feeling that the grass is always greener on the other side… It’s more fun out there, it’s more developed out there, it’s cleaner out there… and so on so forth…
Here I am, a man, talking about something as simple yet as complex as my own country… Lebanon. I never realized that the day would come when all my emotions would be poured into this 10,452sqm2 country that is everyone’s envious off.
I believe that I have been put on this path a long time ago, way before I started NoGralicNoOnions, Souk El Akel, The Box, Mechwar.
As a scout I enjoyed different parts of Lebanon, as a photographer I was able to capture all the details through my lens. It’s as if something was always drawing me closer to my country and I never realized it until recently…
My path was being paved towards appreciating, discovering, feeling, seeing… but I never connected the lines together…
With time I started realizing that it’s the small details that make all the difference... And I am not alone.
Some may think I am exaggerating when I say I am in love with my country, I feel all zesty when I wake up to what lies ahead for me during the day… the people I am going to meet, the ingredients I am going to discover, the talents that will unfold… It’s endless. Every town I visited taught me something new, something new to appreciate and cherish and something less to take for granted.
In the past few years this enthusiasm towards Lebanon has been growing… My appreciation for what it stands for, for what makes it the special place it is…
I see myself chanting for Lebanon out loud. I see my love for my Lebanon grow day by day… I see myself now singing along to old authentic music created by giants that sang songs for Lebanon…
Lebanon stands for much more the war and conflicts. The more you reach out and dig deeper the more you discover how rich its culture, its food, its music and its art are...
Throughout time people have been expressing this passion in their own way… Through heart warming music, through the brisk of an artist’s brush, through the tasteful meals cooked by artisanal chefs…
Sharing a bit of what I feel, see, taste, and love with you daily makes a whole lot of difference to me.
