Dreamer, believer, doer

When my usual conversations with him cover technology, entrepreneurship, and politics, this one took us to a different level altogether.

He roared with laughter when teasingly I asked him: “Why don’t you just give up on Lebanon?”

Passion is not something you decide to have or abandon. It's a state beyond everyday decision-making. When you are passionate about something, the balance of pros and cons takes a second seat. He's passionate about human beings and their behavior. Having roots and belonging to a time, a place, or a group contributes to making someone a better person. You can be a citizen of the world and still belong.

Belonging is beautiful.

Belonging to a time

If you see yourself as part of a continuum, consider that somebody started before you and others will continue after you; you'll look at time accordingly. It means that the universe does not begin with you and ends with you. You develop a less selfish character when you adopt a concept where your existence is a blink in eternity. You wouldn't subscribe to the 'what's in it for me' club.

Belonging to a place

In a geographical sense, belonging helps to establish and maintain roots. This physical attachment encourages you to behave better. If it's a village, people know you, and your actions are remembered. If you become an outlaw for any reason, you're much better off leaving. Being in one place requires a minimum level of social conduct where the community imposes it. Imagine sustaining a family reputation for 3 or 4 generations. In Lebanon and other societies, you are the 'father of' (Abou Fadi) or 'son of' (RobinSon). From a social construct, and if you accept it, you're locked in.

Belonging to a community

You could be a global citizen and still belong to an ideology or a set of values contributing to society. You could be like a bee collecting nectar from the best flowers in the field, working hard, and turning them into pure honey for others to benefit.

The ‘what’s in it for me’ club

The club whose members' life starts with them and ends with them. The club with characteristics so stealthy and intelligent that it outsmarts its members. It makes them think that how they live is selfless when it's all about "what's in it for me. Me. Me. Exclusively me."

What happens when you consider the place you live in as a hotel? When the service deteriorates, you leave and check in somewhere else. Imagine if everybody did that. In essence, there will be no well-kept places to go to. Beautiful villages, neighborhoods, cities, and countries have been built and paid for with hard work, sweat, tears, and, most often, blood.

Members of the materialistic 'what's in it for me' club are generally bound to things. Accumulation of wealth dictates their trajectory in life. It is difficult for them to transcend into other states of mind. It can happen, but seldom.

During our conversation, Fadi turned to me, threw a disclaimer, and said that he's not a social scientist, but these are his observations. I like how he can talk about specifications for some e-government IT solution and then hover up to 30,000 feet and discuss the meaning of life!

The kind of people he likes

He likes people who see themselves as passers-by in life and still seek impact, the kind of people who get joy in moving communities forward. If not for them, places, groups, and days would be less exciting for the rest of us. Fadi likes individuals who contribute without asking for anything in return. He believes in criticizing them less and leaving them alone to do what they do best. He is the dreamer, the believer, and the determined doers. They could be anywhere in the world: Kabul, Paris, Caracas, Abuga, or Beirut.

Speaking of Beirut

When the dreamers, believers, and doers increase in numbers and self-organize, they can make a real difference and realize the change. But first, they have to believe it, Fadi tells me. All groups can do what they do best in the humanitarian and other fields, and they can also get politically organized. Lebanon is no exception.

We are living in a dilemma. Lebanon is a beautiful country with enormous resources for its size. The Lebanese can be living a decent quality of life. Even today, despite all the damage and chaos, people still fall in love with the place.

Today, we are a mere shadow of the country that we aspire to be. When it has been barbarically gutted out from its essence, Fadi believes that Lebanon will be somewhere else when people work together.

He's so believable. This entrepreneur makes things happen at work, cares for his community, develops an action plan, and is already executing. He speaks with contagious certainty.

His experience and actions reconciled with his political thoughts, crying out to stop waiting for that someone to do something.

We cannot keep waiting. We have to cross swords with our opponents with whatever means we have. Let's go for it and continue learning.

His iterative process keeps him going as he adds new features and adjusts the roadmap.

Lebanon lebanizes you

The location on this planet, geography, language, religion, and vegetation make the environment that shapes the people who live in it. Lebanon's natural makina lebanizes the ones who decide to make it home. Lebanon is in a unique spot on the globe. A location with specific unexplainable energies. A place where there's a concentration of micro geographies. While there are many more beautiful places on Earth, the variety of elements in such a small place is remarkable. It's at the crossroads of three continents and has seen many empires over the millennia.

"I'm fascinated by the density and the layers of civilizations that my homeland enjoys."

Most lands are named after the people who conquered or inhabited it. Lebanon is one of the few, if not the only, where the land names the people who chose it as home. Once they decided to stay, they became Lebanized. They become Lebanese.

And then a lot of them travel again. They carry that DNA with them to the rest of the world. The DNA that overflows with ambition. The one who built ships invented the alphabet and was instrumental in forming the Founders of Civilizations club. We are offsprings of these people. For the past 40+ years, they have made us belittle our past and ridicule our present. We allowed them to fuel our low national self-esteem. The Lebanese have so many vital elements working for them. It's time they realize their importance and role in the new world as a nation, not just as successful individuals. Our history is rich and deep, with many legacies we take for granted.

Where do we go from here?

The Lebanese need to organize. We need to reclaim our public administration that has been systematically dismantled over the past 4 decades. Once this starts, we can rebuild our infrastructure, clean up our water resources, initiate reforestation, rebuild the Beirut port, and nurture the human capital. The weather cannot be stolen, and our natural gas resources will find their way to Europe or wherever needed. Lebanon is small enough to be cleaned up and developed quickly. Lebanon can regain its competitive edge in the region and internationally through its local potential and the networked diaspora.

It is time to replace corrupt and incapable public officials. Lebanon will be back on the regional scene to show that diversity and differences can be factors for success in a neighborhood with predominantly one-colored political systems. Lebanon will continue to be a witness and a haven for freedom of speech, thought, and expression. It will again be a home for people to work and live in dignity.

And the practical steps …

Let's wait to discuss the constitution right now, he suggests. He understands all the repression tools that the people in power have used to dishearten and break the revolution. They have succeeded on the streets but have yet to be in the hearts. Fadi is inviting all good people to organize around a political agenda to run the country as administrators. Make simple things work again. He's asking citizens to solve the leadership problem by replacing those leaders through elections. More specifically, he and other colleagues are calling for:

• An independent cabinet with special powers for a limited time

• Early monitored elections

• Get the diaspora to vote easily

• A media channel to support their work

Fadi is proud of how the revolution has manifested itself. He understands that people are broken and tired. Yet, he believes that we can rebuild a newer and better republic.

And that kid in Mansourieh Bhamdoun

The little boy from Mansourieh Bhamdoun in Lebanon's mountain village would spend his summers playing with friends and family in the orchards. Fouad, his father, made sure his family took the time to spend in the village. All sweaty, and at sunset, Fadi bicycles back home. Mom sends him straight for his bath as she prepares a cold cranberry juice from concentrate — 'toot.' Summer nights in the village turn cool and breezy — perfect for a good night's sleep. Fadi would occasionally sneak up to the roof and lay face up, observing the stars in the clear summer sky. The stars became his. He was one little boy, connected to the universe and acting on this globe's life stage.

Today, Fadi is a few decades older. He still goes up to the family's house that he rebuilt. Away from his banking solutions business, he reverts to his tomato plants, chicken, and the cedar trees he's planted for generations to come. His powerful sense of belonging helped him develop intimacy with himself and life.

He got older as the stars did. He belongs to that house's rooftop in that one little village — the rooftop that his father took care of, his grandfather, and one day his son. Fadi belongs to Lebanon, the land reclaiming itself through organization and self-respect.

August 2080, on a cool breezy afternoon, Fadi's grandson, Fadi, is with his family, enjoying quality time with his children and wife under the cedar tree that his grandfather planted back in 2020 — the year when Lebanon was renewed.

The 'toot' is still as good!

Check out his Facebook and Instagram, and his work’s website.

Fadi’s Starbucks ☕️ : Sweet, cold, and decaf.