The Lebanese state of being is an odd mixture of denying reality and accepting the absurd. The former often leads to deferring difficult decisions and necessary actions, while the latter creates acceptance for when the consequences of inaction come into bloom. Take water and electricity. Infrastructure has been collapsing and pushed passed capacity for years — the World Economic Forum has rated Lebanon second last in the Arab World in infrastructure development, behind only Yemen — yet politicians pretended it was beyond their purview and that these utilities could somehow hold out, letting corruption, inaction and ineptitude reign in place of actual policy making. The result now is that Lebanon — a country priding itself on its modernity, culture, education and sophistication — has massive rolling blackouts daily, dry faucets in the summer and yet we simply shrug bitterly and say: “That’s the way it is.” Much more dangerous has
