We pretend fleetingly that the situation of the Lebanese passport is acceptable. Sure we have to wait a while to get our visas. Sure we get preferential treatment at airports sometimes. Sure we sometimes get special queues reserved for us. But it’s the way things are.

A friend of mine who was traveling to the United States was pulled aside during his layover to be questioned. They immediately recoiled when he told them he was in a possession of a permanent residency.

My best friend went to hell and back trying to procure a visa to go to Europe for nothing more but touristic purposes where he’d spend his well-earned money and return.

Our passport is the world’s most expensive and grants is enters to so few countries we’ve come second to last position. And we are all victims – except the politicians who should work on fixing the situation but are so pleased with their special passport that they couldn’t care less about us poor commoners.

The latest casualty in the ongoing Lebanese passport massacre are local band The Wanton Bishops who were supposed to participate in a festival in the United Kingdom and who had their visa application to the UK rejected as per their tweet:

I guess those visa rejections our passports amass are exactly what’s needed to make us stand out in the crowd of those who book airplane tickets and fly away. They’re exactly what is needed to know precisely what those embassies we apply to think of us.

Ease of bureaucracy, who needs you. Plenty of opportunities, who needs you too. But hey, at least we’re proud to have some parts of the country on terrorist lists everywhere.