Last week, I was at my friend's Internet cafe when we decided to order some food. I decided to chat on the good old mIRC program while waiting for the delivery guy. I usually use mIRC to meet Spanish girls in order to practice the language. This time however, I was automatically logged in to channel Lebanon, so I decided to have fun by trying to find an interesting Lebanese girl to chat with... and I did. Her name was Maya.
After the regular questions, she told me she lives in Beirut. Unconsciously, I wanted to know her religion, so I started asking her tricky questions, and she was replying in even trickier answers. I admit it is wrong to think this way, but I am sure that most Lebanese people of my generation do the same. After failing to discourage me, she finally started criticizing me for being sectarian, and she said it was a shame that some people still feel the way I do.
After realizing I was talking to a mature person, I apologized and changed the topic. Surprisingly, she brought back the conversation to this topic again and again, and when I told her so, she explained her philosophy to me. She believes that there should be no barriers between people from different religions except for marriage. I was surprised to hear it from her. This made me realize that no matter how much people brag about not being sectarian, there is still a long way to go to abolish this feeling. I believe admitting a problem and trying to resolve it is better than acting as if it didn't exist.
I decided to write about this experience in order to get some feedback from you. I would love to hear and share other people's experiences on this topic. I would also like to know whether you want me to keep on discussing this subject.
Notes:- The title refers to the sectarian feelings Lebanese people (including me) still have 15 years after the end of the 15 years long civil war.
- mIRC is an Internet program used for chatting.
