Beirut

I remember sitting in a cafe in Beirut in the early 2000's. I sat near a railing that overlooked below a large undeveloped area where there still lay ancient columns and pieces of a storied past, as yet unredeemed. 

On the street to my left were polished, new buildings, constructed since the civil war that lasted from 1975 - 1990. The juxtaposition of the aged, the destroyed and the modern was hard to envision.

But then, as I walked through the streets I found kiosks every block or so. They held vivid photographs of the war-torn devastation to the city, once known as the Paris of the Middle East. And next to each war photo was a current image of the proudly rebuilt site. 

Now, as the missiles and bombs drop today on those same streets, I can't help but wonder what the new kiosks will look like.