You Saw Me Lying There

You saw me lying there

Broken and alone,

You told me it would be easy

To fix myself,

All I have to do is love myself.

But I was never taught how.

ICE made a decision to order all international students whose universities are online to leave the country or risk facing immigration consequences and getting deported which essentially means that students will have to decide between leaving the US or risk their health. many countries don’t even have their borders open and some people may not even have places to go so please sign this petition which requests that international students get the option to finish their degrees and remain in the USA

tw// explosion

Hello, hope all of you are safe and doing well.

You may have heard of what happened in Lebanon today and if not, basically, there was a big explosion in Beirut that affected many cities, destroyed shops, homes, cars, caused many injuries and deaths. The cause is uncertain.

As a fellow lebanese myself (that also lives there), today was absolutely terrifying, probably the scariest moments of my life. We heard a deafening sound as the floors were shaking. Some of us thought it was an attack, others thought it was an earthquake. As soon as it ended many expected a second one, which luckily never happened.

Here's a video of what happened that was sent to me, there are also many others that you can find online.

Windows were broken, doors wrecked, cars flipped over, buildings collapsed, people hit by flying or falling objects, and unfortunately, many didn't make it out alive.

We were one of the lucky ones, our families and friends were all safe and our homes were fine.

Some people couldn't even get out of the crumbling builings, so we saw corpses being pulled out, although some people survived the crash. But wherever we looked, there was blood, poeple were half covered in it, their shirts, pants, hair, everything. And that sight was traumatizing.

We watched the news with elders severely injured, children with blood-spattered shirts and people in pain that couldn't get in the hospitals because they were full.

Some people are missing. Just try to imagine the pain and fear their families and friends are feeling.

Articles about what happened, there are a lot more

aljazeera.com

Dozens killed, thousands wounded in Beirut blast: Live updates

Officials expect death toll to rise after huge blast rips through Lebanon's capital.

euronews

Dozens killed and thousands injured in Beirut port blast

The explosion took place at the port shortly before 19:00 local time (18:00 CET) with a large cloud of smoke billowing over the city. Eyewit

Not only are we in the middle of a pandemic, but Lebanon is also going through a very serious economical crisis. To give you an example, before, $1 equaled 1 500 lebanese pounds. Nowadays, $1 equals more than 7 000 lebanese pounds. Not to mention that we obviously don't have any dollars at disposition, so yeah we're fucked.

People are hungry, homeless, unemployed. And even if they are getting paid, it'll be useless since the prices of everything went up because they were affected by the economical fiasco.

Important additional information

Today, I heard my 7 year old cousins scream in fear that they were going to die. I saw my aunt shaking, worried that her children won't survive. I saw my dad freak out while trying to reassure us when we both knew that we were uncertain about the next minutes of our lives. I heard the panic in the trembling voices of my family and friends as they couldn't believe what had just happened. I thought my loved ones and I were going to die in the next seconds.

I'm never forgetting those moments and feelings.

I don't think signing petitions will help, i don't even know if the following links will help either, I just know Lebanon and it's people are desperate for anything because the future of this country is extremely uncertain.

https://helplebanonnow.carrd.co/

Lebanon

Lebanon

How can you help?

https://lebanoncrisis.carrd.co/

Lebanon & Ways to Help

Lebanon & Ways to Help

Lebanon Needs You More Than Ever. Know more about the crisis in Lebanon, sign petitions, donate or explore volunteering opportunities.

https://www.gofundme.com/f/lebanonneedsorg?utm_source=customer&utm_campaign=p_cp+share-sheet&utm_medium=copy_link

gofundme.com

Lebanon Needs organized by Christina Nakhle

<strong>What?</strong> We founded Lebanon Needs to provide those who need it the most with essential s… Christina Nakhle needs your support

https://helplebanon.carrd.co/

Help Lebanon

Help Lebanon

Ways to help local Lebanese communities survive the crisis.

http://redcross.org.lb/SubPage.aspx?pageid=1370&PID=158

http://www.caritas.org.lb/get_involved/donate

Caritas Lebanon

Donate | Caritas Lebanon

JustGiving

Help raise £500000 to provide disaster relief after the explosion in Beirut

Weʼre raising money to provide disaster relief after the explosion in Beirut. Support this JustGiving Crowdfunding Page.

https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/lebanon-relief?utm_term=PYp7gXzyD

Lebanon At Risk of FAMINE

Lebanon At Risk of FAMINE

Help families, domestic workers, and refugees in Lebanon with food and other basic needs during this economic and public health crisis

I think donating to the red cross would be the most helpful, so if you are considering it, it'd be great.

There are so many great threads on twitter about what you can do to help, just search help lebanon or something to find them. Also if you can, please donate, and as I said, the lebanese pound is pretty much worthless currently so USD is way more useful to us.

If you’re an introvert, follow us @introvertunites. 

I’ve lost it all.

Forfeited my life for a break from pain,

Cried out into nothingness and jumped headfirst into hate

I shuddered away from mirrors, afraid of my own reflection

Because the hideous creature that peered back at me

Was something I used to cherish.

But now that I’ve been stripped of everything,

Everything secondary to who I am,

And I’ve fallen into every pit of despair and explored the worst person that I can be,

Questioned everything and hated every single fibre of my being,

I can finally try to accept all of me.

I can move forward and let go,

Breathe deeply and remember that I am a whole, flawed, beautiful person.

And I can forget all of my plans and my discontentment

Because even without everything,

I can still love me.

The voices are loud today.

Like the incessant chiming of a bell, 

Each note the same but still as deafening, 

Driving me to my end.