I spent summers as a young boy in Damascus, just when other Syrians were flocking to my coastal hometown of Tartous to savor the waters of the Mediterranean Sea. Yet despite heading into the heat of Damascus, the summer was always special. The Damascene diversity was riveting. Every Friday morning, my grandfather had me tag along during his weekend ritual of shopping for antiques. He would hold my hand as we strolled along Medhat Pasha, better known as the biblical Straight Street. We moved slowly from one shop to another, eyeing the colored-glass vases, rubbed smooth brass plates, and looked at the intricate pearl-inlay chests.
Grandpa and I laughed a lot as we shopped for antiques. Some of the biggest belly laughs were with Jamil, an elderly Syrian Jew whose shop was close to the Al-Efranj Synagogue, an active place of worship until today. We would stop by the monumental Umayyad Mosque, where the faithful gathered for Friday noon prayers. Inside the mosque, Grandpa lifted me up once to peer through the bars of a shrine said to contain the head of John the Baptist, known to Muslims as the Prophet Yahya.
My grandfather, Faisal Sabbagh, loved Damascus’s history. But he was not stuck in the past. When he was not out searching for antiques, he was a neurosurgeon. He trained at Columbia University and established the Neurosurgery Department at Damascus University in 1949. My other grandfather is still alive and well at 93. A celebrated entrepreneur and a longtime community leader, I’m proud to be his namesake. He teases my father about his passion for high-tech photography. Grandpa bought his first camera from France in the late 1920s, long before the era of digital cameras, and took photos of the National Boy Scouts which he led in Tartous. He rejoices in recalling the memories of the Scouts demonstrating against the French occupation more than 75 years. Occupation and injustice, sooner than later, ended.
Talk to young Syrians today and you will find that they often have similar family tales to recount of history, tradition, resistance and innovation. Many have roots in far-flung corners of the globe. Similarly, people from around the globe can trace their roots to Syria which was once privileged to be the geographic center of the world, and the heart of the historic Silk Road connecting the Asian continent to Europe.
It is striking that many visitors confess that they, too, feel “at home” in Damascus. That sense of belonging is due to an amusing anomaly: Any visitor can find a “Syrian” that looks like they do! We are a blend of cultures that triumphed over our ethnic and religious identities to form one nation. Yes, we have a distinct Arab identity and a rich Islamic culture. But we also have a powerful Christian heritage, a Mediterranean character and proximity to Europe.
Syria and its capital of Damascus are sometimes themselves thought of as antiquities, remnants of an illustrious civilization that never quite made it into the present. But for the thousands of us born in the 1960s and 1970s, Syria is a very different nation today than it was even a decade ago. There is much more opportunity to advance and we often feel we have an unprecedented opportunity to flourish. We are committed to the rebirth of a “Syrian Dream”, empowered by a distinct sense of belonging and sense of duty to a place to call home.
Syria is an ancient nation yet one propelled by a new technologically-savvy generation of young entrepreneurs. We have a vision of what we can be, and are set on course to implement it. Countless people in government, civil society and business, and “quiet heroes” of ordinary citizens work hard to maintain that course against all the odds as we seek to be makers of peace, not only seekers of peace. In a world as unstable as ours today, it only makes sense for us and for many as well to buy shares in that “Syrian Dream.”
At a recent World Economic Forum at the Dead Sea in Jordan, I — along with 200 young adults from around the world who had been named as Young Global Leaders — got to share our stories and plan for a better world. I had an opportunity to tell government officials, entrepreneurs, and activists from distant nations about the global perspective that now thrives in our country, nurtured by a heritage that gives Syrians the confidence to advance into the 21st century.
At the Dead Sea, I also realized I was not just a proud citizen of Syria, but indeed a proud citizen of an ever-changing world — as my grandfathers taught me.
— Abdulsalam Haykal is a media and technology entrepreneur and a social activist based in Damascus, Syria. In 2009, he was selected among 200 Young Global Leaders by the World Economic Forum.
