I am going to the army
Lebanon, Essay, 9/4/1997

"Tomorrow I am going to the army," says the most fashionable song of the popular singer Wael Kfoury, whose TV clip is almost adored by Lebanese adolescents and youths. In addition to the singer's great performance, this success is actually due to the vivid description of the situation of a great number of men who are compelled to perform military service, if they do not have a valuable reason to be excused from doing it--such as being an only child or having a health problem, or simply knowing some colonel in the Lebanese Army. People see themselves more or less in the song. If not, it certainly reminds them of someone they know.

It is typical these days to see young men in military suits, often carrying a big bag containing their goods and chattels, and waiting for transportation. Frankly, National Service is not a very pleasant way to fill one's time, especially if one does not hope to lose a whole year on exercising and paining.

Nevertheless, deputies and ministers agree on a very important point, which is that imposing military service is a most efficient way to hinder delinquency, through providing youths that may tend to misbehave, with an occupation in addition to a very serious and firm education; so by the end of the service they will have changed and gotten used to following rules and regulations.

Another advantage of national service is that it obliges people from all over Lebanon to mingle together, so if some prejudices or fanaticism remain in their minds and their hearts after the civil war, it will vanish once they meet each other, because finally they are all Lebanese and alike, whatever region they come from. However, a plan consisting of excusing those who were born in 1973 from the service is being studied, and the final decision of the parliament is still unknown.

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