[written by Lea Karam ]<\/p>\n
Like it was yesterday,
\nThe smell of the sea mixed with burnt grain.
\nThe silence in a city that usually never sleeps broken by the sound of our boots as they step and drown in dunes of corn.
\nThe sight on destroyed Beirut as the first rays of the morning unravel the crime that took place with the last rays of the day before; August 4th.<\/p>\n
Like it was yesterday,
\nThe fear while checking on people we loved.
\nThe anxiety of the unknown we were heading towards in our vehicles.
\nThe shock as we entered damaged areas, and the complete paralysis the moment we saw the port.<\/p>\n
Like it was yesterday.
\nThe hope following the light of the torches looking for any vital sign.
\nThe hope brought by daylight as we explored more areas.
\nThe anger following the hopeless searches
\nThe anger piling with every discovered dead body<\/p>\n
The same hope and the same anger took us on the streets again few days later, this time not as first responders but as citizens.
\nonly to be shattered by tear gas and truncheons.
\nonly to be shattered by denial of justice, corruption, and failure in the system.<\/p>\n
Like it was yesterday, a fire started, the silos crumbled, a dense cloud formed.
\nIt was yesterday, another part of the silos collapsed.
\n2 days before the remembrance of the catastrophic blast that killed 218 people and injured 7000.<\/p>\n
The explosion blew everything within a radius of 6 miles.<\/p>\n
2 years after that tragic day, while everybody\u2019s wounds are still open, politicians are trying to close the investigation, destroy the silos, and rebuild over their crime scene a new structure that will magnify the collective amnesia.<\/p>\n
Like it was yesterday, only this year, and for the first time, I\u2019m miles away but somehow it feels the same.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
[written by Lea Karam ] Like it was yesterday, The smell of the sea mixed with burnt grain. The silence in a city that usually never [\u2026]<\/span><\/p>","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":10883,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[39,519,13,14],"tags":[297,139],"yoast_head":"\n