And On It Goes
The complaints keep coming. There is no end to them. There never will be in all likelihood, even when the story of escape becomes stale, an air of bitterness will prevail. These, surely, are people whose general dissatisfaction with life is constant. These surely are representative of those whose tendency it is to complain of anything and everything. These people are not representative of their group as a whole. But these are the people to whom Canadians are exposed and toward whom compassion has been soured to resentment. For people surely are entitled to certain things, but a sense of entitlement to that extreme degree does them no credit at all. They are an embarrassment to their ethnic, cultural group.From the Lebanese-Canadian woman standing in line with countless others waiting to be evacuated from the port in Beirut who took advantage of a television camera to thrust her angry face into the camera to harshly introduce herself as being the most important personage present; giving her name, demanding unequivocally, no, stating baldly that she would be taken out at the earliest opportunity, which would be then and now, her face contorted beyond belief.
To the young woman situated in Montreal, giving a press conference, as a family member representing a Lebanese Canadian family who lost 7 members in Lebanon as a result of the retaliatory IDF bombing. It was, she said baldly, the Jews who did this, who were responsible. Hezbollah was innocent of all charges, the news reports had it all wrong, they were biased. Hezbollah was their protector. The children of that family who died in Lebanon were martyrs.
To the young man, an 18-year-old Lebanese Canadian being evacuated along with countless others, who stated bitterly and directly that Hezbollah was right in trying to destroy Israel. He was proud of Hezbollah. He planned to emulate their actions, to become a fully-accredited member of Hezbollah and to take up their battle with the foe. And then he was evacuated back to Montreal.
To the men and women disembarking in Cyprus from the Blue Dawn, describing their ordeal on that ship, inadequately equipped, crowded, no beds to sleep in, everyone throwing up from seasickness, no medical personnel on board to see to their well-being, inadequate food preparations and not sufficient water for their needs. This ship, the Blue Dawn, was a Lebanese ship. Is that not ironic? At such a time of confusion, dreadful congestion, thousands of people clamouring to be taken away from Lebanon, one takes comfort where one may.
To the men and women who complained about the lack of attention given to their needs in the stadium in Cyprus which the Government of Canada was using to house the evacuees until they could be flown back to Canada. Exhausted and badly overworked diplomatic staff labouring around the clock to secure their safety were no indication to these people that their needs are of paramount concern to the government. But the huge fans installed in the stadium in an attempt to introduce a measure of comfort in the stifling damp and hot atmosphere of a Cypriot summer was not to their liking, and sevacuee railed at the lack of organization.
To the outraged Lebanese-Canadian woman who described her ordeal, waiting on the dock in Beirut in the hot sun for evacuation for endless long hours with thousands of others. Her discomfort, her anger, her sharp criticism of Canada's lack of speedy evacuation planning, the stupidity of it all, her disdain for the Prime Minister of Canada, her misery at the discomfort she had experienced. She might just as well have stayed back in Beirut, she said; she was sorry she hadn't, for she had exchanged that unhappy experience for an even worse one.
The Lebanese-Canadian man from within Canada who called in to a talk show to express his disgust at the conditions his wife and children discovered themselves in, at the Cyprus stadium. His wife, he said, was calling him repeatedly, saying she could not stand the heat, the deprivation, the boredom, the waiting for embarkation from the island. She was ordering him from Cyprus to "do something". He had called the "help line" at the Department of Foreign Affairs and someone there on staff had verbally abused him. Was this how to behave to someone who called to ask for help?
When it was divulged that the Government of Canada had resolved not to request that it be repaid for passage for the evacuation of these Lebanese Canadians, that the total costs associated with this massive evacuation would be paid for by the Canadian taxpayer, many of the rescued felt mollified, and many expressed their gratitude to the government for the support they were given, the plans undertaken under such duress, their safe evacuation.
Yes, people in such stressful situations feel frightened, angry that fate conspired to place them in such fearful, untenable, life-threatening situations. If there is someone, some entity deserving blame, make certain you identify it or them properly. Render your appreciation for action taken on your behalf adequately.
Shame on all the complainers, the whiners, those for whom nothing would have been adequate.
posted by Pieface @ Monday, July 24, 2006
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