Lebanon Reflections from Myles

     It’s been three weeks since we got back, and while our routines have gotten back to normal for the most part, Lebanon continues to get under my skin. Whenever I complain about how hot it is, I remember what it’s like to sweat unendingly; we went to Dee’s after getting a baba ganouj craving, and pined for real Lebanese fries. The strange part about trips like this is that I have never have idea what will change about my life in the aftermath: will I start giving money in new ways? Will I start thinking in new ways or caring about new things?

Already, I know this: I care about the fate of a country I didn’t know before, and I care about children I didn’t know about before. I have no idea how this will play out in the future, or when or if we will return, but already, the way I think about current events and my daily life is changed because I care differently. When I read the news now, I see faces I know and places I’ve been; when I hear about the activities of a group of people, I see not acts of violence but the way they cared for their kids. Travelling complicates our views of the world in the best way possible, because it forces us to see people and not ideas. It’s the things I want most: to live in an increasingly complicated world.

~Myles