I was surprising to hear there was such a strong Christian presence in Lebanon – even today after the war and current events (emigration) it was surprising to learn Zahle and Lebanon have such large populations of Christians. I believe that the indigenous Christians shaped Lebanon’s history with their attitude. Their strong willpower to survive and thrive in a heterogeneous environment is commendable and I believe goes a long way to inform the larger attitudes of Lebanese people in general. They may be facing trails and adversity right now but the structure, systems, and opportunities set up by early indigenous Christians paved the path for later settlers (i.e. Universities, Western healthcare, etc.) to take hold and persevere. If it wasn’t for their fight for freedom of religion other faith communities would likely not have been able to survive either and contribute – the effect extrapolating. It was interesting to me to learn how there was relative peace and then how quickly the situation turned sour once the Christians fears from the Cairo Agreement materialized. It was odd to hear about the golden days of the 1960’s to then hear about a 15 year war that has all but continued today.
