Dear Friends and Lovers of Lebanon,

Today I woke up here in Queens, NY and I sat with my mom in my back yard sipping on a delicious cup of ( kahwee arabieh) or turkish coffee (for those that have an issue with the first name) the weather is perfect, birds all around, the incredible smell of honey suckle filled the air…just perfect. All of the sudden an incredible sadness took over my heart, the reality of it is happening of Lebanon today is just too sad, too ugly to forget and enjoy the back yard. I grew up in a war torn Lebanon, and left it in the late eighties to start a new life here and to forget about it all…but who can forget Lebanon? Who can forget the dream of peace? Who can forget their childhood? The walks in the evenings with the friends…picking the figs in the morning, looking at the most beautiful skies, you can reach the stars in your hand, reading Gibran under the olive trees my grandfather had planted many years ago…how can I forget? How can I forget ten thousand pages of memories I had in my little town in the mountains.Today, I sit here with my mom listening to the news on our satellite TV, seeing the country on the verge of a big war again, and fighting in the Palestinian camps, an explosion here and an explosion there, the assassination of this leader and that leader. I call the rest of my family that remain there, all they want to know is how to get a visa to get out ? Sad indeed…” inshallah khair” God willing it will be good-…”Allah bedabir” –God will take care of it all- my mom always says, despite all her faith never wavered and her optimism stays strong no matter how dark it gets, I don’t understand this kind of will, I don’t understand this kind of optimism, maybe because her roots are deep in the land… maybe because she drank from Lebanon’s rivers for so long…or maybe because she endured the cold winds on the top of his mountains …my Mom…my Cedar tree.
Let us join together with my mom in a prayer for our beloved Lebanon…and …..”inshallah khair”