Fudged opinions
Every Muslim you speak to here has a different version of the Lebanon crisis. They all think it’s wrong, but they all have different justifications.
The one I spoke to today said that it’s decreed in Islam that once things reach a certain limit, you have to fight and die for your faith. But she couldn’t tell me how they determine when that limit is reached.
What was interesting about this, was her explanation that that was why Hezbollah soldiers were so much more hardcore than Israeli soldiers. The former are fearless, because they believe in their spiritual rewards and will get in there and do the job. The latter don’t want to die.
Yesterday I spoke to a Lebanese guy who spent the last week evacuating his family. He says the war is awful, and pointless and stupid and all that. But that it’s not AS bad as the news might make you believe – he’s positive that his house will still be standing when he returns, the bombing is very localized.
Also, he claims that neither sides have the money for the war to escalate and he doubts that the US will again get involved after burning their fingers in Iraq and Vietnam. It’s just a matter of time according to him.
I don’t know if he’s just telling himself this. I don’t know if the people I ask here, who deny any chance of us being at risk, are also just telling themselves this.
Still, put two people in the same room for more than ten minutes and the conversation will get stuck there. It’s evidently on people’s minds. People are following the news closely, from multiple sources. Different people escalate the extremity to different degrees, as is fitting to their personalities.
But hey, I had lobster and chocolate fudge mud for lunch.
The one I spoke to today said that it’s decreed in Islam that once things reach a certain limit, you have to fight and die for your faith. But she couldn’t tell me how they determine when that limit is reached.
What was interesting about this, was her explanation that that was why Hezbollah soldiers were so much more hardcore than Israeli soldiers. The former are fearless, because they believe in their spiritual rewards and will get in there and do the job. The latter don’t want to die.
Yesterday I spoke to a Lebanese guy who spent the last week evacuating his family. He says the war is awful, and pointless and stupid and all that. But that it’s not AS bad as the news might make you believe – he’s positive that his house will still be standing when he returns, the bombing is very localized.
Also, he claims that neither sides have the money for the war to escalate and he doubts that the US will again get involved after burning their fingers in Iraq and Vietnam. It’s just a matter of time according to him.
I don’t know if he’s just telling himself this. I don’t know if the people I ask here, who deny any chance of us being at risk, are also just telling themselves this.
Still, put two people in the same room for more than ten minutes and the conversation will get stuck there. It’s evidently on people’s minds. People are following the news closely, from multiple sources. Different people escalate the extremity to different degrees, as is fitting to their personalities.
But hey, I had lobster and chocolate fudge mud for lunch.
posted by Nadine at 5:47 PM
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