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Where does the Arab world go from here?

In the Arab world, we are living in a time of blurred lines and distorted perceptions, a time of shifting sands and uncertain reconstructions. We have divided ourselves into genres of sects, religions, origins and leanings- so much so that even subdivisions are defined. It is with pride that some have taken refuge in their ignorance, narrow mindedness and racism. Some have formulated their perceptions of the world and all the events taking place around them according to their hatred and dismay, likes and dislikes.
Nothing seems to be in competition when it comes to modes of torture and means of inflicting suffering. From dismembering heads as trophies to burning live flesh, from systematic rape and abuse, to selling women as commodities. All in the name of one hatred or the other. Normalcy has become in hearing of or seeing the bombings, the beheadings, the starvation, the cleansing, and the sheer destruction for the sake of it. No builders are on call. It is as if today's motto is: 'I destroy, Therefore I am'. Such mayhem is being bred like a monster, fueled to varying degrees by outsiders whose mandate is to keep the inferno alive.
History repeatedly proves that in times of war, people become blind towards their own humanity, and all is fair game. There are no rules, no laws, and no boundaries to what can or cannot be carried out. And the longer a war flares, the further those involved in it fade away from humanity. This seems to be the situation in the Arab world. It has imprisoned itself into an abyss - ugly and evil. It is not that the region is new to witnessing atrocities unfold. It is also not new that external powers - close and far off - keep poking their noses into its affairs. Big players in the region furiously try to settle scores, pursue colonial dreams, or attempt to establish themselves as the powers that be.
There will be a very long time before anything is saved from that abyss. It will take a very long time to reach the point when all the destruction engulfing the region would stop. Many are not just part of the cycle of violence - rather, they have become the killing machine. Feeding itself on this bloodbath; as if its very existence is dependent on it. The more the violence is bloody and evil, the longer it will go on.
Unfortunately, one cannot avoid thinking of the current situation except as a prelude to what is yet to come. What is in store is even uglier than what our eyes are seeing; more vulgar than what our souls are witnessing.
These bygone countries are referred to today in the modern political terminology as failed nation states. They are not just that. An entire system has collapsed and a whole infrastructure is brought down to rubble. The sanctity of a nation-state has dangerously eroded. In economic definition, the cost has been calculated as additions and subtractions by the dollar sign. And the numbers are astronomical, to the extent that they cannot be grasped - let alone imagined. All these numbers do is give us a relative comprehension of what all this destruction around us entails.
But that is only one small part of the story. There is a more compelling ripple that will be carried beyond the today and will be burdened by future generations. This cannot be weighted with any sort of calculation. The human cost is immeasurable and in fact, even using the word 'cost' in this context takes away what the real implications are.
Entire communities have been destroyed and with them, every imaginable relationship has been erased. They no longer exist. And they can never be restored or reconstructed to what they were once before. Hence, the roots and memories of entire generations have been dusted off. Even if the same group of people who once lived in a village or a city decide to come together when the violence stops, it will not be the same as it used to before. How would it ever be possible that the thread which connected them together is brought back from the dead?
Before erecting the neighborhoods, souls will need to heal. Before the fabric of so many communities is rebuilt, human relations have to be mended. The memory of pain and despair has to be reconciled and overcome.
But yet again, when the time comes for the killing and destruction to stop, only then would we realize how deep harm has been inflicted. The biggest surprise would emerge from today's young generation: what would they turn into when they come of age.
Najla Al Rostamani is a UAE-based columnist and media consultant with interests in local and international socio-political affairs