Endurance Amidst Adversity:
A Lebanese Resilience that Strengthens Bonding with the Homeland
In present-day Lebanon, young people confront a myriad of challenges affecting both their daily lives and their outlook on the future. However, this predicament is not new. Over the past decades, successive generations of Lebanese individuals have navigated through a series of turbulent events that have shaped their personalities and lifestyles. While some may view these challenges negatively, many youths have embraced this rollercoaster ride, using it to their advantage. They persist, adapt, and innovate, standing resiliently in the face of adversity. Speaking with young individuals residing in Lebanon sparked one of them to express:“What I like most about Lebanon is the rich culture, the coexistence, and that despite its turbulent past, the Lebanese people have shown incredible determination and resilience, which continues in our present time. Our resilience and coexistence fuel creative and innovative ideas to find solutions.”
In Lebanon, youth’s remarkable resilience is demonstrated through various means. It is manifested in their education, entrepreneurial spirit, as well as a strong sense of solidarity with their surrounding communities. Youth are often determined to pursue academic excellence to secure a better future for themselves and their families, seeking scholarships, financial aid, or employment to support their studies. They exhibit notable actions towards fostering their sense of innovativeness and creativity, contributing to their country’s economy, even minimally, in response to the prevailing high unemployment rates. In times of crisis, youth prove proactive in supporting their communities through volunteer work and grassroots initiatives.
Based on discussions with Lebanese youth, resilience is a notion that they frequently associate with their country, praising it for embedding this quality into their personality and propelling them towards responsiveness and determination. The succession of adverse events from 2019 onwards has reinforced a resolve among the youth to pursue achievement and success relentlessly, prompting their adaptability as they persist in finding solutions to impasses and challenging situations.
The strength and robustness that Lebanon instills in its people, together with the country’s lively spirit, are elements that reinforce and bolster youths’ attachment to their country, unfortunately creating confusion in the context of a weak economy and an underperforming political scene. They grapple with indecisiveness on whether to stay or leave the country. Settling in Lebanon implies embracing this resilience and pushing it further by utilizing the limited resources to confront challenges and strive for a promising future within their nation.
In contrast, expatriate youth tell a different narrative. From their perspective, resilience is a key ingredient for success; nevertheless, they recognize that resilience alone, without opportunities, is insufficient for achieving success. This prompts them to venture beyond their country’s borders in search of opportunities where they can employ their resilience and other qualities they acquired from being raised and educated in Lebanon to succeed and sometimes reach outstanding positions.
Moving forward, resilience is a valuable asset that the country should leverage to drive reforms and development. It is the collective resilience of the people, their spirit, together with the country’s natural resources and culture that hold the potential to propel the country forward.
This is particularly crucial in the face of current challenges, including a dysfunctional government, economic crisis, and ineffective political leadership. Concrete initiatives are in dire need to minimize the flock of young minds to other countries where Lebanese youth actively contribute to the growth and development of the environments they settle in. These initiatives fall under the purview of multiple stakeholders, with primary responsibility resting on the Lebanese government through urgently implementing reforms as well as the private sector through prioritizing the employment of Lebanese talents over other nationalities, accepting their innovativeness and modern thoughts, allowing them to prove themselves and contribute to their nation.