Bambi's Thoughts
There is sadly an escalation of violence in the Middle East (https://shorturl.at/pwELT), ironically occurring on April 13 (as per the older post shown below).
Enough is enough… No to violence. No to wars.
Yes to peace, healing, and prosperity.
May ONLY love have the final word in our world.
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This musical post is dedicated to Rita, Bambi’s childhood friend, and to her birth country. It celebrates humanity, peace, life, the will to live, love, including patriotism, and friendship. Enough of violence, enough of wars. May love, healing and peace prevail, not just in Lebanon, but also in its troubled neighbourhood, and on the entire earth. As for Rita, Bambi misses her a lot and loves her beyond words. She wishes her a wonderful birthday with lots of fun ❤️!
With much love, Bambi and her spouse send the warmest best wishes to Aline ❤️❤️!!
To honour her friend on her birthday, Bambi will re-share a post about her impressive painting talent, which she discovered during the coronavirus pandemic and keeps refining. To this collection, Bambi will allow herself to add two more great paintings.
Please Aline, keep on being yourself and on making our world more beautiful!
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Mr. Wajdi Mouawad is a Lebanese-Canadian writer, actor, and director. He was born in Beirut and migrated with his family to Canada as a young child. Impressively, since April 2016, he has been the director of the “Théâtre national de la Colline” in Paris (https://shorturl.at/frxCN).
Mr. Mouawad probably cannot recall this likely trivial detail for him, but Bambi will always cherish the memory of how this great artist kindly showed her around the theatre of “Quat‘Sous” in Montreal. This happened decades ago when she went to his workplace to hand him a letter from his cousin upon her return from a trip to Lebanon. It was her first time meeting this incredibly gifted yet humble artist. She was touched, honoured, and humbled.
Of note, as per the French-speaking interview shared below, Mr. Mouawad was recently officially recognized as the most unifying theatre director in France. What an honour. The latter is not surprising given his high empathy, capacity to see the nuances, compassion, and uplifting talent in using words with intelligence, generosity, clarity, and precision.
Indeed, how many intellectuals or artists do you know who can address the Hamas-Israel war with nuances, calm, and an authentic humanity? The latter is hard to observe when people seem too polarized. From the interview shared below, we also learn that Mr. Mouawad feels for the suffering of all innocent people on all sides, whether in the Lebanese civil war or in the latest round of the Hamas-Israel war (i.e. the horror of the October 7 massacre and kidnapping as well the resulting war, which has been too cruel on the innocent people). He denounces the criminality of the world’s political leaders and their enablers while also calling a spade a spade, namely the criminality of those operating within groups that commit massacres (i.e., Hamas). Stated differently, Mr. Mouawad seems to see the bigger picture while putting himself in the shoes of innocent people on all sides of this historic conflict.
Both as a human being and as a theatre director, Mr. Mouawad, knows how to rise above wars to see the humanity of people, regardless of whom they are. He can get out of his own complex identity journey to connect with human compassion. In addition, he has the wisdom of knowing that what is happening in the Middle East is not the fault of a jew he may encounter on the street; an example he used himself to denounce anti-antisemitism. Of course, as he said, he also knows that what is happening is also not the fault of the Palestinians.
Bambi learned the details reported above while taking the time to listen to the inspiring interview Mr. Mouwad gave to France Inter a couple of days before his trip to Beirut. There he was supposed to practice, with his team, at the Monot Theatre. Generously, they made their 3-week-long practice (“Journée de noces chez les Cromagnons“) freely open to the public until their premiere. What did they get in return? Dangerous criminal threats in the context of a silly campaign against him, accusing him of normalization with Israel (https://shorturl.at/zEMX9). Can you imagine the narrow mindedness?
Despite its stated attachment to freedom of expression, the Monnot Theatre became too worried about the safety of everyone involved: “The safety of our staff, as well as the teams we welcome, and our public is our absolute priority,” said the Monnot’s management team, who admitted being “deeply disappointed by this situation. While affirming our attachment to freedom of expression, we are committed to pursuing the provision of quality theatrical work against all odds,” concluded the statement” (https://shorturl.at/zEMX9).
Clearly, Mr. Mouawad speaks the language of arts, refined intelligence, critical thinking, open-mindedness, and healing. Sadly, those so-called activists who are too excited by the Hamas-Israel war only speak a potentially deadly language, namely of intimidation, threats, and cancel culture.
To conclude, would the above censorship saga help the cause of the Palestinians or reduce the probability of a wider war in Lebanon? Of course not. All it does is sadly the following: it prevents the Lebanese people from having a free access to theatre, makes Mr. Mouawad feel unwelcome (and even threatened!) in his birth country, and it sadly attacks freedom of artistic expression in the land of the cedars.
In Arabic, “Eid” means feast or celebration in English. Specifically, “Eid el Fitr” is a major celebration, marking the end of “Ramadan”, the month of fasting (and prayer) for observant Muslims of the world, including Canada.
Bambi wishes her relatives, friends, fellow citizens, and readers a Happy Id, if they happen to highlight it tomorrow!
May everyone celebrate with peace of mind and enjoy the day. Of course, some may be perhaps currently mourning a loved one or facing personal or collective challenges in their lives. Lots of courage to them and may love prevail in… and among the hearts.
Thanks to National Geographic for the brief YouTube video explaining the phenomenon of a solar eclipse.
This being said, thank you Ms. Bonnie Tyler for your unique love song entitled Total Eclipse of the Heart.
If she may, Bambi will now offer Ms. Tyler’s old song to the sun and the moon 🙂 as well as to Roula and Doudou because it marked the start of their ongoing love story since 1980-81. At the time, Roula was 13 and her youngest sister Bambi just 9. Roula met true love while biking in the neighbourhood’s public garden during civil war times. As for Bambi, she has been blessed then, as she began having a living brother for the first time. Slightly later, as a teenager too, Bambi’s other sister Rania met Rabih who became her second brother :).
To conclude this brief post, with or without a total solar eclipse in your day, with or without love, may the magic of nature and the beauty of human encounters entertain and enrich your lives!
❤️❤️
Please raise your hand if you are a fan of Mr. Jacques Brel (https://shorturl.at/ehtuA), a LEGENDARY Belgian singer-songwriter and actor (1929-1978). Bambi is saying so while having trouble preparing this post as she cannot type with her two hands in the air.
Regardless of the above, it means a lot to Bambi to pause before going to sleep to celebrate Mr. Brel’s incredible musical legacy. May his memory be eternal and thanks to all the skilled artists who move her heart when they pay tribute to his unique talent!
Ms. Michelle Torr, a highly talented and famous French singer, was born on April 7, 1947 (https://shorturl.at/jpzP3). Of note, she is well-known in the francophone countries as well as in non-francophone counties, thanks to her participation in Eurovision Song Contests (https://shorturl.at/jpzP3).
Bambi likes Ms. Torr a lot, perhaps partly because she reminds her of her childhood and teen years in Beirut. She also appreciates how she sang in the German language as well as her numerous visits to Québec where Bambi used to live for fifteen years.
“Joyeux Anniversaire Madame Torr”!
Happy Birthday to the great singer that you, Ms. Torr!
Did you have a beautiful day and/or evening, like Bambi? Since she woke up this morning, a beautiful song has been on her mind. Who knows why? Maybe it is because she heard it on the internet radio when she opened her eyes? Maybe because of its lovely melody or deep Lebanese-Arabic lyrics on the end of seasons with an underlying hope for a transition toward personal growth or transformation, along with a loved one? Regardless of the true meaning of this love song, Bambi is eager to share it with you in this post. Following the performance of Ms. Majida El Roomi as well as Ms. Rania El Hajj, if you are interested, you can find a quick English translation of its lyrics (https://shorturl.at/LR014).
Everything is ending, love and dreams…
Everything is ending, boredom and days
The street is getting narrower and we are on the streets…
The distance is going to end and so is the street.
Take me, my love, hurry and take me
life is fading away…
Please take me, and don’t lose me in the strange night
take me, my love, hurry and take me
I am at the door
Hide me in your heart and don’t leave me alone in the mist.
Everything is ending, nightlife and celebrations…
And departure to far places is calling…
The Autumn is ending and we are in the Fall…
and the fog is covering the sidewalk…
Everything is ending, the faces of the friends…
Everything is ending, the laughs of the beloved ones…
The celebration will be over and I am alone on this day…
and you are far away…”
Ms. Maya Angelou, an inspiring American poet, storyteller, civil right activist, and autobiographer, was born on April 4, 1928 (https://shorturl.at/CDJ08).
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. an exceptional Baptist minister and a top leader of the civil rights movement in the United States, was assassinated on April 4, 1968 (https://shorturl.at/bAFGT).
Thanks to both of them for the incredible inspiration… May their memory be eternal.
To honour their respective legacy, Bambi will start by sharing four of their own famous quotes. As usual, she will end in music with three songs: the first on loving others (Mr. Daniel Lévi, in French and sub-titled in English). The second on loving life (Mr. Julio Iglesias in French). Last but not least, the third song is about a loving dream related to fairness in our world (Les Enfantastiques in French).
Ms. Maya Angelou
“I can be changed by what happens to me. But I refuse to be reduced by it”.
“When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time”.
“Try to be a rainbow in someone’s cloud“.
“Love life. Engage in it. Give it all you’ve got. Love it with a passion because life truly does give back, many times over, what you put into it”.
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
“I look to a day when people will not be judged by the colour of their skin, but by the content of their character“.
“Darkness cannot drive out darkness, only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that”.
“Out of the mountain of despair, a stone of hope“.
“Love is the only force capable of transforming an enemy into a friend“.
