In a few hours, it will be the 24th anniversary of the September 11 tragedy in which about 3000 innocent people lost their lives, mostly in New York, but also in Pennsylvania and at the Pentagon (https://tinyurl.com/37wf9brc). Of note, about a month ago, three more victims were identified in New York City, including a young man and two women (https://tinyurl.com/y3w22ndv). All the terrorists (19) also died (https://tinyurl.com/37wf9brc).
This horrific and unforgettable day took place over two decades ago. Sadly, our world is still filled with stories of terror and suffering, in addition to unsolved conflicts here and there, and ongoing senseless wars.
Talking about wars, after checking on her dear cousin and his family in Doha, Qatar, yesterday (https://tinyurl.com/3umyckmr), Bambi decided to listen to the news of the region from out of her birth country, Lebanon. The radio station she found online happened to be talking about a port being renovated 35 years after the end of the Lebanese civil war. Bravo for the positive news.
Of note, this port is located in a city called Jounieh, North of Beirut. Bambi’s family escaped Beirut to this port from which they took a small boat to Cyprus. That was in 1989, a year before they migrated to Canada.
At the moment Bambi turned this Internet radio station on, one of the speakers celebrating the inauguration was mentioning a tragedy that happened at the port in 1989 (a year before the end of war). At the time, civilians were rushing to the boat in almost total darkness, without much sound, for safety reasons. Despite this, the shelling began suddenly. Missiles hit the water surrounding the boat and the small harbour quay. A horror story occurred to one of the escaping families, as mentioned on the radio.
Ironically, as mentioned on the radio, this family was also called Azar, like Bambi’s family name. These parents lost their two daughters on the spot. Can you imagine? Listening to the story made Bambi immediately have goose bumps while shedding a couple of tears. Indeed, this war memory is even more meaningful to her for the following reasons: although the radio speaker did not mention the names of the siblings who died, Bambi will always remember that one of them was called Roula, like her own sister (the other kid was Maia). For some reason, her dad either got stuck in Lebanon or maybe had to return there before Bambi’s mom and sisters. Whatever the precise context of the story, Bambi may have forgotten some details. She only recalls that both her dad and mom used to listen to a radio station on which they provided the names of the injured or dead people. This is how her dad heard about the deeply sad tragedy of the two Azar daughters, one of them was called exactly like his own daughter. He got worried, especially that they did not mention their age on the radio. Indeed, they were younger than his daughters.
Wars are ugly. Violence is senseless. And what to say about terrorist attacks? They are unacceptable, even after two decades or more. May the memory of all the victims be eternal. Much love and continuous healing to the surviving families. Same for all those affected by the 9/11 tragedy, back then or across generations.
