Thursday, September 22, 2005

What universal historic anger?

If European leftists and their angry protégés worldwide only understood that the world isn’t so black-and-white, they wouldn’t think Arabs were two dimensional cut-outs that they use to play out their anger with.

Were it today, they would have crushed a boy’s spirits. Or his body.

«The quake of 1956 is still a thing of legend in Lebanon. Six thousand buildings gone, 136 people dead, roads fractured, comfort scarce. But only a few days after the shaking stopped, says Kamal Shouhayib, the children had care packages in their hands.

He remembers chocolates and chocolate chip cookies -- the first cookies he had ever seen -- and he remembers a note that came with them. "A gift to the people of Lebanon," it said, "from the people of America."

"I'd never seen so much snow in my life," he says, "but I was enchanted with everything."
[ … ]
In Troy, says Mayor Louise Schilling, "he is one of the first ones you go to. He always tries to help out." Among other things, he sponsors an annual middle school writing contest; the theme is, "Proud to Be an American."
[ … ]
He was back in Aley this month, in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, and the three Rotary Clubs sent him home with gifts -- $1,000 apiece, targeted for hurricane relief. Last Friday, Aley pledged $1,500.

He couldn't be prouder if the checks were for millions. It's only $4,500, a true drop in the bucket. But it's also a ripple, spread outward over nearly 50 years from some simple boxes of sweets.»
Alla ma’ak, ya Kamal.

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