It takes all sorts to make a world
Lebanon, Essay, 9/20/1997

In the afternoon, when the sun is not harmful anymore and I have nothing better to do, I like to go for a walk to the place that I consider the most gorgeous part of Beirut: the sidewalk of "Cornish Almanara," where the view on the beach is of a rare beauty.

Once I am there, the widest variety of incidents take place in front of my eyes, and the most diverse kinds of people parade back and forth next to me: Some of them are the juvenile girls wearing high heels, short skirts and exaggerated makeup and staring at the groups of guys that sit on the trunk of their cars, where they have turned the radio on at the loudest imaginable volume.

Another kind of people are the large families with innumerable kids, sometimes with a mother wearing a veil, the "hijab" that is still worn by women in the traditional families of the villages and even the cities. These families are the main customers of the peddlers who sell cold drinks or corn or nuts in big boxes that they carry on their back.

There are many other kinds of passers-by, but the most serious persons one can encounter there are people who came for the sole purpose of exercising. These are easily detectable by the jogging suits they wear, usually extremely wet, for they have been sweating for eternity.

In my opinion, the coolest people I meet there are the youths wearing roller-blades and almost flying on them when they hear the police coming to check whether they were getting out of the limits of the area where they are allowed to stay.

But after all, I have to accept all the others--though they are a bit different--in order to be accepted in return. Lebanon is made up of various people, and that is the reason why tolerance is a basis for it to be a healthy nation.

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