What a 17 Year Old Makes in America

Kenosha. 

A small town in Illinois with industrial plants, strip malls, a ULINE branch, corn fields, forest preserves and beautiful rivers is now the focal point of the racial disparities in America. For our family, it was where we would stop at Starbucks at 6:30am to fill up on caffeine for a long day at a swim meet in neighboring Pleasant Prairie at the RecPlex, a gorgeous facility with an olympic pool, fitness facilities and indoor ice rink. We could get to Kenosha from Chicago in an hour flying up I-94, the Edens Expressway.

Yesterday, a Chicagoland friend posted a picture of an armored military vehicle on the expressway through Illinois captioned, "Counted like 20 headed north on 294 - probably to Kenosha WI Praying for peaceful night."

Today, I walked into the room to wake up my girls. The 17 year old is asleep on her camping mat, twisted up with a sleeping bag, and the one who turns 16 next week is stretched out on the bed in blissful rest. Seeing their peaceful expressions eases my soul. I need this moment every morning, because being a parent today is a high anxiety job. In fact, so many of my daughters' Gen Z and Millennial friends know this; they know it so well that quite a number have already decided they don't want to raise children of their own. They refuse to raise children in the world that we are making.

Wise words from contemporary artist Makoto Fujimura come to mind as I think of what a 17 year old makes in America today. He writes from the perspective of an art teacher asking children in a classroom, "What do you want to make today?" His analysis of this question is critical for our world at this very moment - our world that has been concentrated through the lens of Kenosha, Wisconsin where a 17 year old took a military-like long gun and shot and killed Kenosha residents, 26 year old Anthony Huber and 36 year old Joseph Rosenbaum (donate towards his burial expenses). On August 26, 2020, this 17 year old, self-identified "Militia member" from Antioch, Illinois chose what he would make: tragedy.

In my classroom, when I asked five, 15-year-old girls what their ideal qualities would be in a future spouse, their top two comments were that the person would smell nice and wasn't addicted to video games. Priorities relating to being a good person or sharing their faith convictions came after that. Young people in our country are under attack, and when a 17-year-old in America cannot be a maker of creativity, they will become a maker of destruction. According to those who know him, the Kenosha shooter viewed himself as a helper of the police and a good citizen. The Militia Movement intentionally persuades young people towards these ideologies, calling them "public defenders". How many hours a day did this 17 year old young man spend firing a weapon virtually? Is it possible that my daughter's friends have played video games with this Illinois high schooler who is now facing criminal charges, including reckless and intentional homicide? 

Radicalization is the risk that our society faces when young people are not given ways to be makers of good. As Father Greg Boyle of Homeboy Industries has claimed in his work with youth in gangs, "Nothing stops a bullet like a job." Narratives that demonize one group while elevating another dominate the Gen Z and Millenial social media themes, and it goes in many ways to extremes.

Everyday, my daughters engage in controversial conversations with their "followers" and "friends" about content in social media stories and the things that members of their generation are "making." The thread of hopelessness is increasingly woven through these digital platforms.

What used to be images of dance, art, food, the park, the lake, humor, music, and other joyous, young ventures are now frequently political, accusatory, and demanding posts: the demands of a generation who believes that they have been robbed. This sentiment might be the singular point of agreement for the fractured views of Generation Z: regardless of their ideology they feel the world has wronged them.

Art Professor Fujimura explains, "To ask 'what do you want to make today?' is not an idealist's escape from reality. To ask 'what do you want to make today?' is a quiet resistance against the destructive fears dominating our world; refusing to submit to the inevitability of corruption in our ideologies."

Parents, many of you are tirelessly guiding your children towards being makers of creativity. This is creative resistance and a powerful way of protest because it supports thriving in spite of our society's failures. My heart soars when I see videos posted of my family and friends' children making music, art, playing sports, writing, reading books, going hiking and camping, performing in theater and enjoying the greatest of pleasures in life, like friendship.

Gen Z, do not feel guilty if you are not posting what is trending! Justice is not a short-lived trend. We need to turn our culture upside down. Post the beauty that you are MAKING today! Make things that stand in the gap for those who are less privileged than ourselves. I am not asking you to ignore injustices, racism, gender violence and misogyny, or the mockery that is our media. No! I am calling upon MAKERS OF CREATIVITY to be the louder voices, louder than the makers of destruction.

Your Lebanon. My Lebanon.

We never visited, but we fell in love with our "Balad" through our Baba. We visited Lebanon through the music of Fairuz, Wadi El Safi, and Majida El Roumi. Their lyrics told the stories we longed to know.

Our minds imagined the cliffs on the sea at Rawsha, where Daddy saw an angel and it saved his life. Through his careful harvest of the olives in our backyard in California, we experienced his joy of his homeland. The American University of Beirut and his loyal best friend from his childhood village, together unlocked the opportunities that catapulted my father into a career as an organic chemist in the U.S.

Many people see Lebanon as just another Middle Eastern country, suffering from war, strife and conflict that every other one suffers. But, Lebanon is different to me. I have spoken my heart about Palestine, but right now, my father's Balad is breaking my heart.

In this moment of their devastation as a people and a country, perhaps you may discover a longing for Beirut, a city you never knew you dreamed to visit - the home of the Phoenicians.

Lebanese people are proud. They have held tightly to the long Christian heritage that dates back to the first churches. They speak "Lebanese", not "Arabic". It IS Arabic, but they want you to know they are proud, because they can boast of having the largest indigenous Christian population in the Middle East.

The earliest Biblical writings elaborate about Lebanon's breathtaking scenery: the famous Cedar of Lebanon, sites of pilgrimage and miracles, the temple of Baal in Baalbek, Tyre and Sidon.

"The righteous flourish like the palm tree and grow like the cedar in Lebanon" (Psalm 92:12) ... "The trees of the Lord are watered abundantly, the cedars of Lebanon that he planted." (Psalm 104:16 NRSV)

In the woods of his village, Baba would spend time alone writing poetry and reading by a natural spring, Zoo' ee. Nature was his preferred place of worship, though he was a very religious Orthodox Christian. As a naturalized citizen of the United States, my dad still dreamed of his beautiful home. He grew up bil dai3ah - "the village". He had 9 siblings, and his mother nursed her own children and some of her grandchildren. During the civil war, their family was known to provide medical aid to the suffering, a tradition that has been renewed as Syrian refugees have been fleeing into Lebanon over these recent years. It was an Orthodox Christian village where his fondest memories were with two goats and his cow, Futna, that lived in their house. Her milk was used to make Shankleesh, strongly pungent fermented yogurt balls which they would roll in Zaatar, a mix of native thyme, sesame seeds and sumac. His village is famous for having the best Shankleesh in Lebanon!

You have your Lebanon and I have mine.

You have your Lebanon with her problems, 

and I have my Lebanon with her beauty.

You have your Lebanon with all her prejudices and struggles, 

and I have my Lebanon with all her dreams and securities.

Your Lebanon is a political knot, a national dilemma, a place of conflict and deception. 

My Lebanon is a place of beauty and dreams of enchanting valleys and splendid mountains.

Your Lebanon is inhabited by functionaries, officers, politicians, committees, and factions. 

My Lebanon is for peasants, shepherds, young boys and girls, parents and poets.

Your Lebanon is empty and fleeting, whereas My Lebanon will endure forever.

- Gibran Kahlil Gibran, "The Eye of the Prophet" 1920

Daddy loved Khalil Gibran. Poetry and nature were his heartbeat. One of his best friends encouraged me to read, "The Broken Wings". I wept. Lebanese writing, full of passion, spirit, and heartache moved me deeply. I felt like through Khalil Gibran, perhaps I could better understand my Dad. He was an introvert and held the highest standard for ethics and morality: honest to a fault. Some of the best advice and invented cliches in our family came from my Dad.

Truly, this crisis is a loss to us all. Beirut is the Newport Beach of the Middle East - some say the French Riviera: progressive, beautiful, strong and rich with culture. In the moment of an explosion, culture, families, history, stability, hope have been shattered.

The international community must hold the government accountable. An international investigation must be demanded. We can press our Congress people, the U.N. Yes, send support.

There are many links that may have come your way. Due to the Coronavirus pandemic, many NGO's lost their support and their presence in Lebanon. A number of them were well established and already responding due to the flooding of Syrian refugees into Lebanon. Donating to a vetted organization with feet on the ground is important at this time. Here are a few that I am connected with personally.

Preemptive Love
Antiochian Orthodox Church
Caritas Lebanon/Catholic Charity Organization
Living With Power/Dr. Lina Abujamra Medical Teams