My plan for today was to tell you about school, but then life intervened in the form of bombings in Paris and the "Paris of the Middle East" ... Beirut.
While we have been focused on the awful events and tragedy of Friday night in Paris, if you live in the U.S. you may not even know that on Thursday [yes, the afternoon before] there was a bombing in the main marketplace of Beirut. Forty-five were killed and nearly 240 injured. In a country with a population of 6 million, that's a big number. [France has 67 million population.]
We need to broaden our focus and mourn all of our lost brothers and sisters - and not just the Europeans. Yes, the French have been long time allies and friends, but so have the Lebanese. In recent years we have not been as close, but i well remember the stream of students in my dad's engineering classes in the 50's and 60's. Within the past ten years Mitchell sponsored the immigration of a Lebanese family. Their sons are like our adopted sons. So, it saddens me that we tend to forget that part of the world.
I'll just say that we need to find ways to get along; to live together in peace; to allow others to disagree without resorting to killing them. We need to honor the dead and support their families in these terrible days.
You might want to join the Metropolitan Opera orchestra, chorus and principals of "Tosca" in singing "La Marseillaises" and if you know it, the national anthem of Lebanon.
[Ok, so i couldn't figure out how to imbed the video. You're smart and the Google will help you find it.]
Peace.
