Tribute To One Of The Greats: Patriarch Nasrallah Boutros Sfeir

In a few days, the Maronite Church and Lebanon will end an important chapter of their history. No other man in current Lebanon has left a more durable print on the ink of Lebanese history than Patriach Sfeir, whose resignation from head of the Maronite Church was met with grateful sadness from many and jubilation from a few.

I will not enumerate the many achievements of this man – for those achievements are imprinted in every free Lebanese’s mind. Patriarch Sfeir has fought for Lebanon and continued the legacy of the Maronite Church’s continuous struggle to make Lebanon a suitable home for every Lebanese, not only Maronites.

Patriarch Sfeir has been beaten down – literally and figuratively – during his twenty five year run as head of the Maronite Church. And yet, he did not let down. Regardless of the many insults and blows he was dealt, he persevered. The betterment of the nation was superior to his own well-being. He handled it with wisdom and serenity.

He was a leading voice against social and political injustice in Lebanon, of which his people suffered immensely. He played a great role in keeping together what was left of his country when everyone wanted a piece of that country. It is because of this man and the institute that stands behind him that we can say that today, regardless of how weak it might be, we have a country to our name.

He was a voice of reason when reason was not appreciated. He was firm in his stances when firmness meant a pertinent life threat. He had a futuristic vision of a future that many saw was bleak. And in many occasions, his vision turned out to be true.

I, as a Maronite, am proud to say that this man has represented me for the past twenty five years. Regardless of whatever mistakes he might have made, and we all make mistakes.

He may have left his Patriarchal seat, but Patriarch Sfeir will forever be seated in our hearts and minds. They say that the glory of Lebanon is given to the Patriarch – whoever he may be. But Patriarch Sfeir has given Lebanon and Maronites glory beyond glory…

Bullying in Lebanon

I was sitting in a class yesterday when an openly gay guy sat next to me. I’m not very good friends with him (I barely know him) but he seems like a cool guy. I know of at least one incidence after an exam where he was more caring about how my friend and I had performed than many people we know.

So the desk he sat at had the following scribbles: [His name] is gay.

The guy took it with humor. He doesn’t care and the people that care about him don’t care either. He took his pen and scribbled down: And proud. He then signed.

I, however, felt bad for him. I have no idea why but I got the feeling that he put on this facade of the non-caring person who ridicules these kinds of insults, but on the inside he was hurt.

A similar thing happened with another person I know, who was forced to come out because of bullying. Everyone started to make fun of him (and imagine your whole age group making fun of you). But he still held his head high and went through it. While I have some reservations on many things this person did, I have to admit that he was being, in a way, bullied.

Bullying in Lebanon – and other countries for that matter – has always been against those perceived as weaker than us, be it racially, sexually, religion-wise, etc….

So just let me say this. Bullying does not make you a better person – on the contrary, it makes you ridiculous. Whether you enjoy the little surge in power that you get when you make someone lesser than you feel bad, just know that this lesser person is the better person and better people are the people who ultimately get the good jobs, the nice girlfriends (or boyfriends) and lead the better life.

So if you’re a bully, take a minute to ponder how horrible you’d feel if the same things you’re doing to those you are bullying are being done to you.

And as final food for thought: aren’t we all bullies? haven’t we all made fun – at certain points – of people that we see as “lesser” than us?

Drunk Thursday

It is that time of the year again – the time where we attempt to celebrate our ancestor’s traditions in the period leading up to lent.

One of the most loved traditions will take place tomorrow: Drunk Thursday, aka the only day of the year where getting wasted in front of your parents is met with cheers.

The tradition – or at least what I’ve come to understand of it – goes as follows. On the last Thursday before lent, the whole family gets together for one last shindig before lent starts. It used to be that people gave up everything that made them happy for the lent period, alcohol included. So this “drunk Thursday” served as their last serious farewell to the substance, giving it up until Easter rolled over.

Disregarding what alcohol does to your liver and other vital organs, I think it’s an awesome tradition. It just has this Lebanese familial feel to it that I believe has been decreasing over the years. It’s always nice to sit with your parents over a glass of wine and chat. Now take the wine and extrapolate to a certain unknown power and throw in a few extra family members, some of which you do not want to mingle with and you’re in for one exciting evening – be it you are an atheist or not. This is not a religious occasion, per se.

I’ve personally never celebrated the day properly with my family. Other people my age have had their own share of “Drunk Thursdays” but getting drunk has always eluded me. I have no idea why. God knows I’ve tried. I’ve also taken up drinking quite late compared to other Lebanese my age. Apparently the “acquired taste” of alcohol required extra-acquiring by yours truly. So it looks like this year will be the one time my family gets together to “celebrate” this day properly. And I have to say, I’m excited about it!

Keeping up with traditions – even though our understanding of them might have become different – is always important because it roots us further in our identity. Even if the tradition is as simple as binge drinking with your dad.

So is your family getting together tomorrow to get drunk?

Twitter Suspends UberTwitter and Twidroy

Twitter has just suspended two third-party twitter app developers: UberTwitter and Twidroy, for violating company policy.

According to a statement issued by Twitter, these companies allowed “direct messages longer than 140 characters … [and] changing the contents’ of users’ Tweets in order to make money.”

Twitter also mentioned that it has been in talks with the companies that developed these applications since April 2010 about their policies infringement and that it decided to announce all of this via its support center because many users were going to be affected.

Here’s the full Twitter statement.

We ask all developers in the Twitter ecosystem to abide by a simple set of rules that are in the interests of our users, as well as the health and vitality of the platform as a whole.
We often take actions to enforce these rules; in fact, on an average day we turn off more than one hundred services that violate our API rules of the road. This keeps the ecosystem fair for everyone.

Today we suspended several applications, including UberTwitter, twidroyd and UberCurrent, which have violated Twitter policies and trademarks in a variety of ways. These violations include, but aren’t limited to, a privacy issue with private Direct Messages longer than 140 characters, trademark infringement, and changing the content of users’ Tweets in order to make money.

We’ve had conversations with UberMedia, the developer of these applications, about policy violations since April 2010, when they first launched under the name TweetUp – a term commonly used by Twitter users and a trademark violation. We continue to be in contact with UberMedia and hope that they will bring the suspended applications into compliance with our policies soon.

There Goes My Heart… Home

We all know how it feels to be home… you’re too comfortable being there, you’re yourself there… But you know what feels even better than being home? Going home after a long absence.

I belong in Batroun. I am from the North and my heart will always go there. Driving around my hometown, Ebrine, in the Batroun Caza, I snapped these pictures.

When I wake up and open the blinds, this is the first thing I see:

And if I feel like going to sightsee, I don’t need to wander off a lot… these are a few scenes that await me after a few minutes of walking.
And whenever I feel like I want to be alone, I can simply drive down to a very old church, dating back to the 1400s. This is St. Charbel (the Lebanese saint took his name).

My hometown also harbors the mother Convent for Sainte Famille. We all know people who have been to their schools and there are two streets, one in Tripoli and one in Beirut, named after my hometown because they have Sainte Famille convents on them.

And if I feel like visiting my grandma, I pass by a canopy of trees and beautiful olive tree fields…

And if you ever feel hungry, Royal’s Pizza in Batroun offers the best pizza in Lebanon. And trust me, I have tried many, many pizzas. Nothing will ever come close.