Tony Feghali | Business Coach

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Lebanon… No one is coming.

Change has to happen from within. Vote for change.

It doesn’t matter what has happened or is happening. It doesn’t matter what others did to us or how much we’ve inflicted on ourselves. Nothing matters anymore, except what we do today.

We are all responsible

Let’s not get into the blame game. We are all responsible. Yes. Other powers have and are doing what’s best for them. They act to serve their interests. Whether we like it or not, whether it’s ethical or not, right or not, fair or not, IT DOES NOT MATTER. It happened.

Over the years, we dreamt of a better Lebanon. We endured enormous blows to our economy, safety, and livelihood. Yet, we continued to roll up our sleeves, toil, and try our best for a better country. We won some but lost a lot.

We tried to put the right people in the right places. Many of them got assassinated, leaving their families, friends, and followers demoralized. Other leaders got coerced, blackmailed, conditioned, or beaten to submission. The most significant blows come from within as some of our own organized and systematically betrayed Lebanon. Karma’s a bitch! It’ll get back at them. Just wait and see.

The whole thing is unfair, cruel, and heartbreaking. What we’re going through is going to make us or break us?

The dawn of a new beginning

Lebanon is going through yet another transformation. The perfect storm destroyed things and people. It pushed out the ones who could leave, made out of believers skeptics, downright insulting, or self-mutilating.

This is not happening to us. It’s happening for us.

Despite all, the people of Lebanon, beaten, tired, impoverished, overthrown, and exiled, still stand tall. This country is becoming a nation in the hardest, most painful, and thunderous way. We’re just exhausted to see it through. Sometimes, what seems to be the end hides a new beginning. I see an imminent, real, attainable, impactful, transformative, and rewarding rebirth of a nation.

Let’s not give up yet

I know that we can change. Speaking our minds through voting is one meaningful way to transform Lebanon. A transformation done together. Let’s unleash the power of one. And another one. And another one. Hundreds of thousands of us doing our duty and honoring our obligation to participate in the democratic process.

They can tell you that you’re just one and you don’t matter. Or they will try to sabotage the entire process. I say, no matter what they think they can do, I will still speak my mind, exercise my duty, and give no one the pleasure of seeing me complacent. When we stick together and make our voices heard, our fate will listen, the stars will align, and God will respond.

The Phoenix?

Forget the Phoenix. Like a warm loaf of sourdough bread, we will rise again. Like a well-nourished, love-nurtured centuries-old sourdough starter, the few of us will germinate the rest and rise again. The few who are in Lebanon and the ones outside will wake us up and Lebanize us again. All of us, hand in hand, will recover our nation again.

The ask

It’s okay to be sad, angry, disappointed and mad if you have to. But vote.

Vote because it is the right thing to do.
Vote because it is one possible road to change.
Vote because you want a system that takes care of its constituents.
Vote because you want to further empower a judicial system.

Vote for the friend you lost.
For the family who was made to leave home.
For the fallen among us.
Vote for the ones who are still in Lebanon doing their best.

Vote for teta, jedo, baba, and mama.
For your son and daughter who cannot find work at home.
For your brother, sister, cousin, husband, and wife.
Vote for a cleaner, greener, more organized Lebanon.

Vote for the Cedar, pine, oak, and olive trees.
For your grocer, baker, mechanic, and service taxi driver.
For your doctor, nurse, and healthcare professional.
Vote for your teacher.

Vote for the option to come back one day to a better place.
Vote for a better place to live in.
For the love of […], vote.

If not for the sweeping win, vote for the small wins.
Who knows, life might dare us with what we wished for.

Voting reconfigures the Parliament — where change will happen. We need to clean up and stand together because no one is coming to help us. It starts with the one-act. The act, obligation, and duty of voting.

The power of one person to vote will change our nation. You voting?