As war swept across Syria like a tsunami, it has forever changed the nation’s social fabric. The conflict has ravaged the people’s attitudes toward one another and their country's future.

Perhaps nothing sums up this change better than the words of iconic human rights activist and symbol of peaceful, moderate and secular uprising Razan Zeitouneh: “At the beginning, the revolution brought out the best in us, but after a while the worst started coming out, too, in remarkable synchronicity.” The inspirational Zeitouneh was a fearless, selfless lawyer dedicated to defending the rights of the oppressed and her nation from tyranny. She was first persecuted by the regime, and later kidnapped by rebels in Douma and "disappeared" with her team.

This, sadly, was the case for many armed men who joined the revolution out of opportunism and a selfish desire to enrich themselves at the cost of the suffering of their people and destruction of their nation. Many saw the chaos and upheaval of mass civil conflict as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to be someone, but put less thought into who that someone would be, other than violent and armed, with a large ego and some money.

Recently I met with olive farmer Abu Waleed while he was in Aleppo visiting his family. Abu Waleed has sizable lands near the town of Malkieh, and I’ve known him from the days I used to visit the area near Malkieh with friends. Abu Waleed recounted the story of Ahmed, a young farm laborer who worked for him, driving the tractor in the olive tree groves in the northern countryside of Aleppo. The story of Ahmed, who was from a village near the town of Azaz, bordering Turkey, is a striking example of how the Syrian revolution brought out the worst in people even before it had the chance to further its ideals of pluralism, tolerance and democratic civil rule.