Syrian Resilience
The unforgettable scenes from Syria have electrified my otherwise dismal newsfeed over the last few weeks. After 13 years of horrific civil conflict, over half a million deaths, and more than 40 years of the brutal Assad regime, change has come. A few months ago it seemed that Assad had rehabilitated his status and found redemption, as he returned to the Arab League. The arc of the moral universe certainly did not seem to tend toward justice for the Syrian people.
Finally, though, the lightening fall of key cities across Syria’s north west, culminating in the takeover of Damascus on Sunday, have broken the stalemate of the conflict and finally deposed Assad and his supporters. As Assad seeks refuge in Russia, Syrians all over the world are celebrating the end of his tyranny.
We don’t know what comes next, or how key rebel group Hayat Tahrir-al-Sham will effect retribution on Alawites, Christians and others presumed to have supported the regime.
For now, though, I am celebrating with my Syrian friends and colleagues. Many of them have been trapped in limbo for over a decade, unable to return home for fear of arrest or forced conscription. After years of living without status in neighbouring countries, or seeking asylum in Europe or beyond, millions of Syrians are now able to return home. My Facebook feed is filled with joyful stories of family reunions.
The photo above shows a hand-blown glass lamp that I bought from a women’s collective in Aleppo in 2013. Their workshop was bombed during air strikes shortly afterwards, and the collective dispersed. Some women continued to create while living in refugee camps in Turkey, creating makeshift glassblowing equipment and clinging to their craft as they enduring the terrifying uncertainty that comes from being displaced from your homeland. The colours in the lamp are incongruous and gaudy. It hung for a while above our dining table in Beirut, before being packed into a box and shipped to Scotland, then to Myanmar, then it was displaced again along with our family to Thailand, and eventually to our new home in New Mexico.
Every time I look at it I feel hope. I remember those women and their tenacity. As a coach, I have been working to support pathways to resilience with my clients. Much of the research on resilience points to the effectiveness of personal purpose - Kendall Cotton Bronk, Ph.D., is a Professor of Psychology in the Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences at the Claremont Graduate University who has carried out several longitudinal studies of the relationship between personal purpose and resiliency.
Kendall, who defines ‘purpose in life’ as “a long-term, forward-looking intention to accomplish aims that are both meaningful to the self and of consequence to the world beyond the self,” found that a sense of purpose, shared vision, and belief in a positive collective outcome allowed individuals and groups to have greater resilience to setbacks and disappointments.
“Setbacks and disappointments” seem like inadequate words to describe some of the horrors that have been inflicted on ordinary Syrians for decades. But their vision prevailed, and it seems for now at least that hope can be reinstated in Damascus.
Many of my friends, clients and colleagues in the West are struggling with overwhelm and deep anxiety about the future. Right now I am watching the New Mexican winter sun light up my Aleppo lamp of many colours. May hope always prevail.