Lebanon

Maybe is too late, maybe it's never too late to talk about Lebanon...but every time I've tried finishing this post, and I tried many times, my eyes got full of tears and my heart… well, today I will try again to finish it and get some control of my emotions.
I’m talking about Lebanon! I have a very personal connection with Lebanon and I tried hard to post something about it when everybody was talking about it, but I couldn’t.

Since all those conflicts Israel-Lebanon started I got very upset with a very dear friend and his family. He is Lebanese, Muslim, and got married with a Brazilian, Catholic woman. They had 6 children, and I think 10 grandchildren, forming a beautiful Arab-Brazilian family!
I have a deep affection for Mr. Fouad, my dear Lebanese friend! He is a strong guy, in all sense of this word, with beautiful blue eyes. He moved to Brasil when he was a young man and there he worked with commerce/trade market as well almost all Lebanese/Arab who immigrated to Brasil in the in the end of the 19 century and beginning of the 20 century.

Actually Mr. Fouad is not alone in Brasil. The Lebanese community is huge and today, there are about 6 millions Lebanese and their direct descendant living there.
Well, I said Lebanese but I must include a little of the Syrian also. That migratory movement of the Arabs in Brasil had internal, intrinsic reasons and it happened when the Ottoman Empire was in its end.
As the Lebanese had this traditions of nomadic trader, and they did not feel security, nor freedom, nor the power of living well and gaining the life in their own country in that time, they immigrated to Brasil and among with Syria those both culture contributed with the formation of the actual Brazilian society and also in Brazilian culture. Just to exemplify that, you can find Lebanese/Syria food from north to south in Brasil very easily and I’m not talking about specific restaurants. In Brasil we have small bar/grocery stores almost in every corner of any city and in those places you will find for sure sfiha and kibbeh very fresh!
BTW, these foods don’t have another name or Brazilian/ Portuguese names and you can order them just saying their original names: sfiha-esfirra and/or kibbeh-quibe! (The spelling of it that changes)

Well, why Brasil? In this period, Brasil was entering in a period of wanting to grow, to open the doors to receive immigrants and the Arab people was very welcome! We, Brazilian people, and the Arabs share almost the same lifestyle such the happiness of living, the good neighborhood’s politic, the careness with the others and so on…
Well, it so hard to find somebody in Brasil that doesn’t know a Lebanese/Syria family.
Just a peculiarity: Lebaneses and Syrias are called, in Brasil, Turkish and even among them they have this kind of treatment. Since Turkishs are not Arabs, I have no idea why they are called this way.

I’m so close to the Arab community in my hometown that I was invited to assume the position of a cultural director of a Cultural Arab Association in the end of the 80s and it was wonderful for me. I had a really great time back there.
So, Mr. Fouad was the one who took me to this Association. I met him when I was taking Law School and his daughter and me were taking the same classes and also being business partners. I got very close to his family, especially to him. In that time, we used to go to his beautiful house to enjoy the swimming pool. I was there almost every weekend, but I didn’t enjoy the swimming pool with my colleagues. What I loved to do was talking to Mr. Fouad about his country, his childhood, and the beauty of the Arab world listening to Fairuz.

When I read that Lebanon was under attack again, I got very sad. In my mind, was Mr. Fouad talking about the braveness of his people and their dedication to the reconstruction mission of this great country over and over. But what really knocked me out was the remembrance that Mr. Fouad and his wife used go to Lebanon every month of May and stay there until September. This memory let me very upset because they live in a suburb of Beirut, exactly where Israel was attacking strongly. To increase my agony I had lost contact with him and his family since I decided to quite Law School!

One night I was writing some scraps on Orkut and I had an idea of looking for his family there and I found some of his grandchildren. Also I browsed his last name at directory/phone book of my city in Brasil and I found an attorney’s office with his last name on! I called this office and for my surprise his oldest son was there and he gave me another phone number where I could reach Mr. Fouad.
The number was my old dear friend Samia’s house. I had forgot how long we stayed apart, but when I heard her voice, it seemed that we were chatting like good times. So, she told me that in the month of May Mr. Fouad just decided not to go to Lebanon this year because he felt that he wanted to spend more time with his grandchildren. What a blessing!!!
She also told me that he always talks about me, what was very nice to hear. I asked her how he was dealing with all those sadness and she sad that he has called his family every day and that he can’t watch TV because he starts crying! What a pity! I can picture his beautiful blue eyes wetted with this painful tears!

All those atrocities that Israel is doing hurt me deeply, not just in a humanitarian way, but because I really feel as my own family is being hurt and it is a very painful pain. I stopped watching news channels, because it makes me puke! Yeah, it can be a strong word, but I do feel this way every time I see those channels saying terrible things about Lebanon and wonderful things about Israel. I really can’t stand it.
I have a deep admiration and respect for the Arab world. Everything relates to Arab world is in some way intimacy related to me, even though I never visit any Arab country in my life, unfortunately. This deep affection started when I was a child and it has follow me ever since. Nobody in my family understands this passion and to be honest, sometimes, neither do I.

Anyhow…I’m not naïve nor blind to think that all Arabs are descent or/and merciful people, but I can’t stand all types of media trying hard to make everybody believes that Arab/Muslim causes all terrorism in the world and the other countries are saints, just trying to save us from those devils! This really pisses me off!

As the media itself wasn’t enough, now Joseph Ratzinger or pope Benedict XVI, who joined the Hitler Youth and worked as prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which is more than relate to the Roman Inquisition, is saying that he is sorry for his speech, in Germany last week.
This man is not innocent or dumb to say something like that in vain. He has a very “good” résumé and now he wants us to think that he has a terrible and short memory! Hello, he worked as big boss of the Inquisition archives. Has he forgot about the Crusades?
I think he is suffering from some kind of Eminem Syndrome, for not being responsible for what he says in a very irresponsible and inconsequent way!
Are you happy now “PapaNazi”? And please, don’t try to make fake I’m sorry faces just because they don’t match with your personality!

Personally I fear this pope more than I fear the Devil itself. I really do…

Anyway…I’m happy that Mr. Fouad is safe and sound enjoying life, as he deserves. I’m also happy because I talked to his daughter who was a very close friend of mine. But my heart is sad because I can’t watch any more thousands of civilians, especially children dying in name of greediness or in name of God!