Life Goes On, but it must not go on dumber, less informed, mentally poorer. We were privileged to have our collective minds enriched on a daily basis by a ten minute read each morning that encapsuled decades of knowledge, a philosophical library, and a strategic eye that saw beyond all horizons. No single pen can replace these lines. We, each of us, must make up a little of this loss on our own.
Who are we and us? The commies raced to claim an old comrade. The Arab nationalists have anointed him above Abdel Nasser. Muslims, Christians, Secular, and Infidels as Ziad put it say he was their voice.
To me he was Free Lebanese Thought. Scratch that, make it Free Thought period, for free thought can not be bound by geography. A school of thought based on deep-wide-long-fat knowledge, smart-logical-surgically precise analysis, and genetically gifted vision that can not be acquired or taught.
We have a void to fill, a void that can only be filled with a collective effort. So today we, each of us, must think a little harder, read a little bit more, make that read a lot more, dig a little deeper, look a little bit further.
Today we graduated. It is now time to work.
15 comments:
Beautiful.
Enormously touching and beautifully said
Good Post jamal.
yes, you're right
ya di3ano ... Free thought indeed.
But unfortunately, there are people in Lebanon who never heard of him. And that is the really sad part.
he was not a "good christian" and he didn't die in an explosion and he didn't know how to shout and write school articles.
thus, u will not hear crying and shouting and may w sikkar in the lebanese blogosphere.
and more over, no body reads arabic. watching kalam enneis is the alternative.
that's the way they knew about joubran toueni for example. through talk shows.
(although, the martyr toueni didn't manage to write a good arabic article).
so u know elyeis el morr ar better than this guy in the blogosphere.
man. he was brave in his supposed tobe his last moments. he broke the glass and went out of it and ried to save the others in a couple of seconds. god bless nabil fawzi in the arabic version of superman. ba3dein did u forget that he refused to return the weapons to hizballah.
on another topic, i heard that bush asked his lebanese guests aout the incident of eljem3a el3arabiyyeh.
.. and since annahar is objective. The death of smaha must be in the internal pages. they will not mention in the front page. you know. they won't risk their history afterall with iranian scum.
May the man RIP. And I am sorry for your loss Jamal.
However, I for one will not miss his writing nor his ideas.
The commies raced to claim an old comrade. The Arab nationalists have anointed him above Abdel Nasser. Muslims, Christians, Secular, [which ???] and Infidels as Ziad put it say he was their voice.
IMO, the above is a list of all the wrong groups/ideas that got us to the hell we are in. Ziad wrote some great songs but he's no political thinker.
Thinking harder? OK Jamal, How about starting to think first? Because if people want to stick with the old stuff mentioned above, they'll find plenty of it everywhere (Jihad Khazen, Rami Khoury..., and 99% or our "ineffectuals).
JW- political thought and ideologies don't take us to hell, criminals with guns and bombs who may use these ideas or any others for excuses do.
even if you disagreed with his ideas that doesnt mean your own ideas couldnt be enriched by reading a well thought deeply knowledgeable different perspective.
Jam,
Political ideas are used by parties/groups to justify/enlist/inspire etc..
Espousing certain ideas, as opposed to others, has consequences.
The region and its major intellectuals of the last 50 plus years have peddled Arabism/socialism/PLO etc... What you see around you today is related to, if not caused by, those ideas.
If ideas have no consequences, why would you value anyone's political writings? Why would you bother?
allah yer7amo....his articles were always so analytical and full of ideas to think and debate with my friends for hours.
It's a big void now....
Jamal, this is somewhat unrelated to the original theme of the post, but what makes El Hoss a lousy politician in your opinion?
Jooj-
1.)zero charisma.
2.)zero energy (not now obviously when he was younger) when Hariri came to lebanon with hurricane force Hoss faced him with afternoon naps.
3.) He never translated his good reputation amongst a large group of people across sects into any kind of organized popular support.
Jam,
-there are options outside of arabism and islamism and socialism and terrorism. You would not know it from reading your answer nor our intellectuals. (My original point)
-Foss failed because he has NO IDEAS, no imagination and is a bland gutless bureaucrat way over his head as PM. Even if he turned his reputation into popularity, that's not enough, you need to have a (right) vision. You actually need to DO something to gain popularity.
-Thanks for the cheap shot at my Hoss piece, but hey, it was no hard analysis, plus that was Hoss' nickname in the old neighborhood.
Good post, Jamz.
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