Post 8/365

The park, which accounts for 72% of all green space in Beirut, started off as a pine forest planted by Emir Fakhr Edin II in the 17th century. When Israel invaded Lebanon in 1982, during the country’s 15-year-long civil war, the park was heavily damaged, with many of its trees burned and destroyed. It’s been closed for the general public for the last 25 years. Thanks to the amazing effort of an NGO called Nahnoo, it’s now open every Saturday.
A more sensitive issue behind the park’s closing is its precarious location directly between Sunni, Shia and Christian neighborhoods known as flashpoints for sectarian conflict.

What I love about it is that Horsh Beirut, other then it being a speckle of green oasis in an urban jungle, is triangular in shape (check google map). A triangle is the strongest shape in geometry. The base of a triangle can be any one of its 3 sides. It cannot be deformed without changing the length of one of its sides or breaking one of its joints. And due to its form it can withhold a great amount of pressure.
So here we have a green triangle, a holy trinity, a perfect shape, in the heart of the city, connecting Sunni, Shia, and Christian under one sky and one vision to live in peace and harmony in a civil active society. A democratic triangle needing all 3 of its parts to hold it together to be able to withhold immense pressure without breaking down.
Because the opening of Horsh beirut spells out change for me and hope for a new beginning, I ‪#‎livelovelebanon‬ and I will#fighton
This picture was taken yesterday