Lessons from Egypt

I am Lebanese.

In other words, I was born in Lebanon. I survived the civil unrest of the 70s in West Beirut. I speak Arabic. I eat Pita bread.

And for the life of me, I cannot understand what is going on in Egypt.

Don’t worry. I’ve watched CNN, seen Anderson Cooper almost beat up, I listened to Greta, read the Times and even Al Jazeera.

The only conclusions I’ve drawn is that I have a lot in common with the Egyptians when it comes to anger. Here’s how:

• I know how to start an argument but don’t know how to end it. It’s true. Nobody taught me this particular skill, but I can date it back as far as I can remember. I’m good at starting fights. I’ve found myself in a bedroom lock down, wishing to go to the mall with my mom, but refusing to give in. I know how to get a fire going, I know how to fuel it, but find it much harder to peaceably end it. I’m not proud of it.

• I often forget the real reason the fight began but find myself still yelling. Have you ever stopped in the middle of a phone conversation with a customer service rep and found yourself trying to remember which company you were in fact on the phone with? It may have started with a bad phone bill, but if you’re like me you’re soon fighting about the reps attitude, and their vocal intonations. This week, I even got angry at a rep for typing during my rant. Even though I don’t always practice this (but believe me, I’m trying) I believe the best arguments are won by logical conversation and friendly compromise where compromise is possible.

• The louder I get, the more right I feel – even if I’m wrong. You know that feeling? You’re driving next to a sibling, and an argument erupts. You don’t even know the topic. But pretty soon, your sister gets loud, so you get louder. And louder and louder. And in your angry bird mentality, twist the rubber band around at least 2-3 times for added momentum and fling the dumb bird. After all, the louder you get, the more right you are. Wrong!

• The more people on my side, the louder I get. I’ve been here before. In fact, it happened to me a few weeks ago. I got dissed unfairly by Dave Ramsey. I don’t even know the guy. My pride was wounded. I wrote him a letter. But that wasn’t enough. That night I had a party. We spent the better part of 2 hours analyzing the situation, talking about it, and the more folks who saw my plight and agreed with me the more seething anger I felt towards poor Dave. Don’t be fooled by the power of the multitudes. Jesus stood alone at the end of his life. And He was as right as He’s ever been.

• My anger always ends up hurting other people – even if I never meant to hurt them in the first place. You’ve seen the clips. Stones are being thrown, smoke fills the air, and inevitably, a limb is shown by that lone cameraman still hungry enough to remain in the heat of the battle. Then a blown up brain fills the screen, or a kid huddles in a corner, crying for his mom. The pictures are heart wrenching, but they remind us of this: someone always get caught up in the fire of your anger, especially the ones who don’t deserve it.

Learn theses lessons from the Egyptians. Their reasons for dissatisfaction may be right. I still don’t understand it all. But their anger is something I recognize. After all, I’m guilty of the same.

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