Past, Present, And The Future?

Things are still very much a toss up here in Libya. I hear this one or that one expressing their concerns.There are worries about Ghadffy and his sons still being at larger.Anger that his son Hannibal was , as some insist , "allowed" to escape to Algeria .Gunfire is heard sporadically too often. Too many guns out in all the wrong hands.This talk of tribes, I have lived here off and on for 40 years and this is the first time I have ever heard that word incorporated into conversations.

Insecurity over the future making  many anxious .Will we become like Iraq ? Car bombs, tribal insurgency's,Islamic extremist ,guerrilla warfare from Ghadffy loyalist are some of the whispers I hear in the wind.If asked most will say that in Tripoli things are improving day by day.People are working hard to get things back to normal.But no one remembers what that is any more.

Everyone wants things back to normal for all of Libya. All of Libya ,the people will tell you this is one Libya , for all Libyans , no matter which way their loyalties lie.But underlying all this is the fear that foreign troops will try to come in to Libya and take over as in Iraq.That would be a fatal mistake , as it would unite and mobilize  the population as nothing else has been able to up to this point ,against any foreign intervention.

People want to believe that things will be different.They want to trust things will change.They want a chance for democracy to work here in Libya.They need time. They need education as to how theses things are done . They need their expats to come home and help make a difference with the skills and knowledge they have gained living abroad.Libya is a beautiful country, but it needs everything , most especially , love and care.The Libyan people ,despite the atrocities we hear about in the news , are a generous people.Libya can become a great country if give half a chance.

Painting by : L.C.Neil " Dream"