After the bombs on Lebanon I was mainly angry at myself. I overheard the news during dinner - "Beirut has been bombed" - and kept eating. Somehow growing up I ended up in a mental state where bombs being dropped on Beirut was 'normal'. It bothered me to no end: it would have been a completely different reaction if I heard "Paris has been bombed".
I ended up taking up an international cooperation job in Beirut, worked there for about three years. I danced, drank, worked, ate, drove around and enjoyed time with people that to this date consider very close friends.
I wish this part would get more attention. People say and do stupid shit when they're highly emotional & vulnerable. Everybody has "wrong" feelings and thoughts now and then. You wouldn't be human if you didn't. Sometimes people vent those thoughts/feelings, and that can hurt other people's feelings. We should obviously deal with that and take responsibility for that, but then the other side needs to accept that apology so both can reconcile. Otherwise everybody stays hurt.
Please stop taking this thread, and other HN threads, further into flamewar. This comment is a noticeable step in the hellish direction, and that's not cool. We're trying for a different sort of conversation here: thoughtful and curious. I realize it's much harder to maintain that state when the topic is divisive and strong emotions come up, but that's what the site guidelines ask everyone to do:
https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html.
Also, we've had to ask you about this many times in the past. That's not good.
