Tomorrow is the 48th death anniversary of Jacques Brel. May his memory be eternal.
Born in Brussels, Belgium (https://tinyurl.com/2tjeb6zu), Mr. Brel, keeps inspiring new generations of gifted singers worldwide like Mr. Mike Massey (based in Lebanon) and many skilled singers from Québec, Canada, including Ms. Isabelle Boulay. He left us a rich legacy of GREAT French-language music. Many of his musical pieces have been translated to different languages, including Dutch. Indeed, his song lyrics are sharp, deep, poetic, satiric, and filled with humanity while his music is filled with beauty.
Bambi loves many of Mr. Brel’s GREAT songs, not only “Ne me quite pas”, which moves her soul while spoiling her ears every time she listens to it. Indeed, she appreciates all the songs shared below, including “La quête” (on impossible dreams).
What about you dear readers? What is your favourite Brel’s song, if any? Perhaps it is featured here. Perhaps not. If you wish, please share a comment on this blog or do it more privately, if you prefer.
“Merci Monsieur Brel pour avoir existé”. Yes, thank you for having existed for 49 years only. May your memory be eternal and warm thoughts for your family.
How sad it is for Bambi to read the news from her birth country before going to sleep. Indeed, she just learned sad and bad news: (1) Hezbollah described Hamas’ “operation” of the 7th of October 2023 as “courageous, qualitative, natural, justified, and a legitimate act of resistance given the scale of injustice”; & (2) Hezbollah received “$200 millions from Iran to help displaced”. It seems that Hezbollah is initially planning to help “around 50,000 families” with $3000 (https://tinyurl.com/5rzyv23b).
Only God knows how the rest of the Iranian large donation will be used. It is Bambi’s hope that this money will not serve to finance the acquisition of more weapons, resulting in more tragedies for Lebanon. If so, the donation would be more useful if would support the Iranian impoverished people instead, even if the misery of the Lebanese displaced families is heart-breaking.
To come back to the first statement of the Hezbollah, how can any group with an ounce of humanity left in it justify the killing of innocent human beings, even if their passport is Israeli?
First and foremost, this lack of compassion is contrary to a main core value of Islam, namely mercy. Tragically, Islam has been hijacked by an extreme Islamist mindset.
Second, and sadly, such lack of compassion is incompatible with the shared values of civility and humanity of the vast majority of the people of Lebanon, especially those who do not belong to any ideological or political party.
Last but not least, the lack of compassion in Hezbollah’s statement contradicts the essence of being human, that is filled with emotional empathy and with the wisdom of silence on a tragic day like October 7.
For God’s sake Hezbollah, just stop your unkind statements and unbearable behaviour. Accept to give your weapons to the Lebanese authorities. Lebanon and its innocent people need to live free of the Israeli occupation as well as the Iranian hegemony.
In a couple of days Israel and the world, including Canada, will remember the innocent victims of the massacre of the 7th of October 2023. Many of whom were young people dancing at a concert. Some were infants. Others were seniors. They were assaulted (physically and even sexually). Some were kidnapped, from their own homes, and mistreated. Some were disrespected as dead bodies. May everyone’s memory be eternal and may God forgive the perpetrators of this massacre. May the grieving families and survivors heal year after year.
The 7th of October 2023 massacre by Hamas resulted in a cruel war in Gaza that some called genocide. All this violence, and the resulting suffering and grief, when will it stop?
Sadly, on the next day, the Iranian-sponsored Lebanese Hezbollah made the unwise decision to join war by opening a front with Israel. The latter dragged Lebanon into a long, costly, and highly destructive war.
May forgiveness, healing, peace, and love prevail not only in the Middle East but also in every world conflict. May this start with the light within people’s hearts. May such inner light spread, from one heart to the other, at the end of each person’s grief (and hopefully growth) journey. May the same light shine in the hearts of people living very far from the Middle East. They sometimes get too passionate about it, without nuance, to the point of intolerance of other people’s opinions in their own countries.
Last but not least, may the “Sperenza”—hope in Italian—of Mr. Claudio Capéo’s beautiful French song teach both older and younger generations how to be courageous, hopeful, and how to love. Perhaps then the light of peace can start shining despite wars and endless conflicts.
Thank you Mr. Charles Aznavour for having existed!
Yesterday was Mr. Charles Aznavour’s 8th death anniversary (https://tinyurl.com/yzdwkffu). May his memory be eternal.
One of Aznavour’s most beautiful songs, which is often featured on this blog, is called “Emmenez-moi” [Take me Along]. The lyrics of this song mention “the end of the earth” as well as “wonderland” as a destination to be transported to.
If you are reading this post from as far as the Middle East, or even further, you may perhaps think of Canada as being the end of the earth. Who knows? Maybe for you it is New Zealand, Australia, or Sri Lanka, depending on where you are located. Of course, this also works in opposite directions or in any other direction. One must also keep in mind that distant or remote places exist within a same large country. Examples of such huge countries may be Russia, Canada, the United States, and China.
Of note, a place can be both remote and charming, or meaningful, for us. A real wonderland, as per the song. We may perhaps have unforgettable memories there. We may simply dream of one day visiting this place at least once in our life. Do you have such a dream destination in mind, dear readers?
As far as Bambi is concerned, every time she listens to Mr. Aznavour’s song she envisions her own dream destination, or wonderland, especially that the song is about a sunny place filled with magic to the point that misery seems to be lighter in the sunshine. For Bambi, this wonderland exists for real, not just in her imagination. Yes, it is the Lindos beach on the Rhodes [or Ρόδος (Ródos) in Greek] island in Greece.
Why Lindos, you may perhaps wonder? It is a place that Bambi’s mind associates with her family while being stunning. She visited it twice. Once with her parents and sisters during her childhood spent in Beirut. The second was a trip she made, from out Toronto, to meet her mom and dad there for a week of vacation. Her parents, who flew out of Beirut, surprised her by bringing with them Michael, her nephew. He was about 8 years old back then. Her dad taped her arrival to the hotel lobby from the airport. He told her: “Look at this Greek boy, doesn’t he look like Mickey”? Michael was wearing a hat and really looked… like himself. Jet lagged, Bambi said “Greek and Lebanese people look alike dad … but God, this boy truly looks like “Mickey habibi” :). Her dad joked, still while taping, saying: “Look closely Bambi, isn’t he Michael?”. At that time, Michael started laughing. He and Bambi ran to hug each other!
This week of vacation was a dream come true. In Lindos with her loved ones, at least some of them. What can Bambi ask for more from life? There is a reason why in her office, inside and outside, she has a couple of postcards of Lindos, hanging on pinboards. Same for the screens of all her devices.
This story was about Bambi’s Lindos. May “your own Lindos”, wherever it is, be a place of safety, well-being, and lots of fun. This place of your choice, perhaps initially a geographic or physical one, would become internal, as it did for Bambi. Yes, we all carry “the Lindos of our dreams” within us. Thankfully, in this internal space, we can devote time to refresh or to honour our loved ones, cherishing the good memories of them/with them.
Perhaps most significantly, in those precious inner places, we can keep re-connecting with ourselves, or parts of ourselves. We can refuel our energy, even if only for a few seconds or minutes per day (like a form of personal meditation or prayer). Following such mental vacation mini-breaks, we can joyfully reconnect with others to fully enjoy the local environment, present moment, and our relationships.
To conclude this post, many thanks to Mr. Charles Aznavour for his impressive legacy. Long live the sunshine in the meaningful lyrics of his song as well as all the wonderlands in the world, regardless of their season.
