ol4

the ‘l’ in ‘ol4’ stands for lebanon today.

imagine you and your siblings inherit a house.

a biig, beautiful, ancient house, five stories high, made of stone and rounded with balconies, with a red brick roof and garden all around.

you and your siblings move in with your families and all your things. you live your lives; you eat, you sleep, you go to work, to school, to restaurants and clubs and events and activities; you buy things and build things and break things and your family gets bigger, year after year after year..

and all the while, no one cleans a thing.

no one vacuums the persian carpets or lifts them and sweeps the floor, no one washes the porcelain dishes, no one takes out the trash, no one empties a crystal ashtray, no one sponges the showers or disinfects the toilets or shines the vinyl, no one picks up after themselves or puts things in their place, no one does the laundry, no one dusts the chandeliers, no one wipes the glass, no one tends the garden, no one removes the weeds or waters the flowers or trims the shrubbery or speaks to the trees, no one polishes the marble floors, no one mops the balconies or dries the turkish cushions after the rain, no one throws away the bones from the leftover chicken, no one notices the stench;

day after day for yeaars and years.

because why? you said. why me? why not him?

what difference will i make?

that is lebanon.