WAR IN LEBANON

 

 

“Our tears often blur our sight and prevent us from seeing things clearly’

                                                                                         --K. De Haan

 

I love the phrase “comfort food”.

 

            It speaks of the things that are so good, so familiar, so right, that they can always encourage a happy mood. For me, comfort food usually includes some form of beef and potatoes. Hamburgers and French fries, fried chicken, grilled pork, and smoked beef. Also, chocolate in almost any form imaginable. These are the foods that speak to me and say that all is well with the world.

            Unfortunately, all is not well with the world, and no amount of hamburgers and French fries can make it right.

Real comfort is not the by product of specific foods anymore. It is a much deeper need that requires a much deeper solution.

The war in Lebanon brought fear and terror to its people. It’s hard to walk with the feeling that in any minute you could be stepping on a mine and the next thing you knew, you’re dead. It is therefore impossible for you to smile for there’s probably no room for a happy face during these times. In a world where wrong is glamorized and the lurid is presented as appealing, we seldom hear of the good things that happen.

Yet, the chaoses have not taken away the merry countenance and the cheerful spirit of Sana, the funny Sana.

One thing I appreciated in the story was the optima of a woman despite great adversity. Though a woman may mostly be depicted as fragile and weak, fear didn’t stumble Sana’s courage to wake up everyday and still manage to smile amidst the war.

I have seen our Filipino workers arrive from Lebanon after an unimaginable escape from their masters and employers just to be home again. Their happiness is indescribable that they seemed to loose themselves in over pouring gladness during their participation in one episode in Wowowee, a local noontime game show. The news reports, documentaries, and interviews on these women from Lebanon during the war pictures how dangerous were the kind of life they were facing each day.

 Then and there, I envy those people in Lebanon who survived each passing moments without the extinction of hope and optism in their hearts.

The narrator must have been grateful to have Sana as her friend. She could have gathered strength from her to fill her weakness and that a friend like Sana was more valuable than any other things the world could offer. Like myself, I sometimes crave not for food or for money when I am down. Most of us would always look for someone to be with us and would eventually feel better I we had. It’s often hard to cry alone. It’s more comforting to have a friend to cry on.

That is why the thought of losing Sana frightened her so much that she wouldn’t miss a single broadcast just to keep track of her friend—she could be near an exploded building , could be injured, or even worst. Important people, though not all of us may be aware, are so dear that we cannot afford to even think they’re in danger and might loose one of them.

Danger and Death were their most feared enemy—and losing someone special is as frightening as the latter.

Though how often you may think you are lucky to have survived each day, there’s still that one hundred percent probability that the next day, you’re dead. That kind of reality is not as easy to accept and that probability is hopelessly inevitable.

How do we accept death?

Or do we really accept it?

The phone call from a doctor which may possibly inform Sana’s sad fate to her friend was undoubtly, very painful to bear and that slamming the phone down at that instant and ignoring the announcement thinking of it as a false alarm is as comforting as any other thing to do at that moment.

I could understand her reaction of the phone call because I believe that, sometimes, we cannot accept painful truths and that running away from it would make us think that we’ll feel much better if we do.

Pain is more painful when we give too much attention to the wound.

Rainy days are often enjoyed when we bathe beneath the dark clouds.

Darkness may cover our days sometimes…what makes it darker is when we put on umbrellas to cover us from it. Face the pain eye to eye for you cannot run away from tragedy forever. Acceptance would make you feel better someday.

Food is not the only thing that could satisfy hunger and hunger doesn’t always need food to be satisfied. The assurance of happiness and the feeling of peace, the dash of optism and a heart full of hope is more than any other food in the world that we must take as our daily bread. 

 

 

“Our tears often blur our sight and prevent us from seeing things clearly’

                                                                                         --K. De Haan

 

I love the phrase “comfort food”.

 

            It speaks of the things that are so good, so familiar, so right, that they can always encourage a happy mood. For me, comfort food usually includes some form of beef and potatoes. Hamburgers and French fries, fried chicken, grilled pork, and smoked beef. Also, chocolate in almost any form imaginable. These are the foods that speak to me and say that all is well with the world.

            Unfortunately, all is not well with the world, and no amount of hamburgers and French fries can make it right.

Real comfort is not the by product of specific foods anymore. It is a much deeper need that requires a much deeper solution.

The war in Lebanon brought fear and terror to its people. It’s hard to walk with the feeling that in any minute you could be stepping on a mine and the next thing you knew, you’re dead. It is therefore impossible for you to smile for there’s probably no room for a happy face during these times. In a world where wrong is glamorized and the lurid is presented as appealing, we seldom hear of the good things that happen.

Yet, the chaoses have not taken away the merry countenance and the cheerful spirit of Sana, the funny Sana.

One thing I appreciated in the story was the optima of a woman despite great adversity. Though a woman may mostly be depicted as fragile and weak, fear didn’t stumble Sana’s courage to wake up everyday and still manage to smile amidst the war.

I have seen our Filipino workers arrive from Lebanon after an unimaginable escape from their masters and employers just to be home again. Their happiness is indescribable that they seemed to loose themselves in over pouring gladness during their participation in one episode in Wowowee, a local noontime game show. The news reports, documentaries, and interviews on these women from Lebanon during the war pictures how dangerous were the kind of life they were facing each day.

 Then and there, I envy those people in Lebanon who survived each passing moments without the extinction of hope and optism in their hearts.

The narrator must have been grateful to have Sana as her friend. She could have gathered strength from her to fill her weakness and that a friend like Sana was more valuable than any other things the world could offer. Like myself, I sometimes crave not for food or for money when I am down. Most of us would always look for someone to be with us and would eventually feel better I we had. It’s often hard to cry alone. It’s more comforting to have a friend to cry on.

That is why the thought of losing Sana frightened her so much that she wouldn’t miss a single broadcast just to keep track of her friend—she could be near an exploded building , could be injured, or even worst. Important people, though not all of us may be aware, are so dear that we cannot afford to even think they’re in danger and might loose one of them.

Danger and Death were their most feared enemy—and losing someone special is as frightening as the latter.

Though how often you may think you are lucky to have survived each day, there’s still that one hundred percent probability that the next day, you’re dead. That kind of reality is not as easy to accept and that probability is hopelessly inevitable.

How do we accept death?

Or do we really accept it?

The phone call from a doctor which may possibly inform Sana’s sad fate to her friend was undoubtly, very painful to bear and that slamming the phone down at that instant and ignoring the announcement thinking of it as a false alarm is as comforting as any other thing to do at that moment.

I could understand her reaction of the phone call because I believe that, sometimes, we cannot accept painful truths and that running away from it would make us think that we’ll feel much better if we do.

Pain is more painful when we give too much attention to the wound.

Rainy days are often enjoyed when we bathe beneath the dark clouds.

Darkness may cover our days sometimes…what makes it darker is when we put on umbrellas to cover us from it. Face the pain eye to eye for you cannot run away from tragedy forever. Acceptance would make you feel better someday.

Food is not the only thing that could satisfy hunger and hunger doesn’t always need food to be satisfied. The assurance of happiness and the feeling of peace, the dash of optism and a heart full of hope is more than any other food in the world that we must take as our daily bread.