Bambi would like to thank Ms. Roula Douglas who re-tweeted this moving picture shown below. It consists of a large candle with all the 200 names of the citizens who were torn from their loved ones in the surrealistic Beirut port explosion of August 4th, 2020.
As a reminder, two of the Beirut victims were toddlers. This is their first Christmas as “angels”, so to speak. Ironically, had they been still alive, they could have been enjoying watching or playing near a Christmas tree like the one in the background of the candle.
May all the victims of the explosion rest in peace and may their families find the courage to keep moving forward in life.
May all those still without homes find warmth in this forthcoming winter season (initially, the estimated stats were 300, 000 families. Yesterday, Bambi heard on France24 news a number as high as 700, 000).
Let’s also remember the 6000+ who have been injured, including many children who lost an eye.
Of course, everyone else has been affected, whether directly or indirectly by hit by this tragedy. Some are geographically closer. Others are miles away and yet their hearts exploded with Beirut on that day.
To remember means to honour loved ones.
To remember is to support all the families and small businesses directly affected by the explosion.
To remember is to demand justice for the victims and their families.
To remember is also to refuse to blindly find excuses for negligence or criminality.
To remember is to wonder: Can the authorities guarantee that such tragedy will not happen again in Beirut or anywhere else in the country?
To remember with both a personalized spiritual symbol (a candle) AND a fun seasonal decoration (a Christmas tree, poinsettia, lights) is a message of hope in the middle of sorrow.
To remember means to re-choose life instead of despair and… to remain connected, through an artistic piece of collective memory, to loved ones who died too early. For what? For whom? Does it make any sense?
Christmas is all about love. Christmas is about the hope of renewal.
Let’s hope the new year will know how to bring brighter days for tiny Lebanon… and for the whole world struggling with the coronavirus pandemic and its economic impact, including us here in Canada.
