Lebanon

When I was a junior in high school I took a Sociology class. Most of the students were seniors there to get an easy passing grade to pad their report card. I was there pretty much by chance myself as it was the only class I could get to fill an empty slot if I was going to get into the Calculus class I really was interested in.

Most of the Sociology students just skated by doing the minim necessary get out of class alive. Truth be told the reason it was easy to get an easy grade was that the instructor was trying to keep the one class he had left in the subject of his life’s true passion alive. He did however try to make it interesting for those of us with real curiosity about the subject. This came in the form of special projects or reports we could do for extra credit. The special projects generally required teams and as there were not enough people in class to make up a team who gave a damn I opted for the reports on subjects where I had a special interest.

The only one I really remember was on the country of Lebanon. It required me to acquire first hand knowledge of the country, it’s people, customs and industry. I did this by looking up the Lebanese Consulate in the phone book, making an appointment and going into downtown Los Angeles on a Saturday morning to interview the Consul.

I found that at that time (1966) Lebanon’s population was made up of about half Muslim and half Christians with a smattering of other religions of no political consequence. The two religious groups shared power in the government by alternating the Presidency and the Prime Minister-ship between members of each group. The primary industry was banking and the Lebanese considered their country to be the Switzerland of the Middle East. The Capitol "Beirut" was a modern, clean, well kept, European Type City that was widely accepted as the "Paris" of the Middle East. They had "world class" hotels, restaurants and night clubs and just about all the amenities necessary to make the richest visitors feel at home and comfortable. A truly nice place to visit.

Ten years later I set off the coast of Lebanon for sixty days on the USS Saratoga while the locals and insurgents burned it to the ground in the name of…well to be honest I was never sure what it was in the "Name of" but we were there just in case. We were waiting to evacuate any Americans whenever their lives were deemed to be in sufficient danger. A week after we were replaced "on station" by the USS America, they carried out the evacuation from what was effectively a bombed out third world ruin of what had been a beautiful vibrant city.

I have often wondered what happened to the "Consul" and to his 19 year old son who I had spoken with for the hour I waited in the outer office that Saturday Morning in 1966. Did they go home to the vagaries of a political system that had descended into chaos and anarchy or did they opt to stay in America where they would at least have some control over their destiny.

Everyone has an opinion about the Middle East. Mine is that they have lost so much through the hatred and distrust of those who’s beliefs differ from their own, that it can not possibly have been worth it.

Uncle Dave