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| From the series Free Fall by Naji Zahar |
Do you know Kinstugi?
Here. It is part of the Japanese repairing ideals - like Boro when it comes to clothing (here) - or how to mend broken objects with gold. It is a way of elevating the day to day, to hang on to older pieces, to perpetuating the memory, and just like boro, it makes something repaired more valuable because it is a testimony of survival, of shared memories, of things used and abused but ultimately still functional.
Do you know Rumi?
Here. Well he said some very wise things (such as here). He, apparently according to the internet, also said "keep breaking your heart until it opens". Not sure if he said that or not, because internet is not a very reliable source sometimes.
So what does this have to do with Lebanon?
Well, everything keeps breaking apart. Daily. No matter how many times you rebuild, you wake up and it is broken again. You rebuild and there you go, it breaks again. There are days where honestly it is so exhausting to be here - mentally and physically and on all other fronts - one just does not see the logic of any rebuilding. But what do we do? We rebuild again of course, because this is who are and this is our specialty and this is our stubbornness and this is our stupidity.
We rebuild because this is the illogic of it and we are illogical people. We rebuild because we know it is going to break, but isn't the "golden joinery" beautiful? We rebuild because nothing makes sense and we are the masters of not making sense (no president, a caretaker government, a parliament hanging by a thread, soaring inflation, skyrocketing prices and - expensive restaurants filled to the brim!).
We make no sense. Living in Lebanon makes no sense.
But rebuild we do, because our hearts keep getting broken - on daily basis, but it seems they are not open just yet.