Lebanon, the land of who knows what

In just 48 hours in Lebanon, I heard the same question at least 10 times. Two words, simple on the surface, but when you’re Lebanese, they mean everything. A question that surfaces whenever the country hits another bump in the road — which is almost always. A question passed down like a reflex, a tic, from generation to generation: “Shou awlak?”Literally, it means “What do you think?” But in Lebanon, it carries much more. “Shou awlak?” means: tell me you know something I don’t, something that could reassure me. It means: help me decipher this new mystery suddenly thrown at us. It means: spare me more nerve-wracking suspense, shed light on what’s going on because I can’t stand decisions being made behind our backs anymore. It means: give me a clue, a tool, anything — I’m exhausted from being in the dark. It means: tell me there’s still a...