Bambi's Thoughts
The late Mr. Daniel Lévi left us a beautiful artistic gift called “L’envie d’aimer” [The desire to love]. His song outlived him and will always remain timely. In this brief musical post, Bambi would like to offer it to each one of you (subtitled in both English and French). May Mr. Lévi’s memory be eternal… May love always have the final word in our troubled world.
Bambi is speechless. Indeed, she does not know what to think and feel to even know what to write to attempt to pay tribute to Cyntia’s VERY short life.
Like Bambi, speechless are also all Cyntia’s loved ones; from her relatives to her young friends to the older friends and fellow community members of her parents, Youmna and Mohammad, and to her sister, Tia-Isabella. May Cyntia’s mom and dad forgive Bambi for any clumsy word used in this post. Basically, she just want them to know that Louis and herself stand with them in full solidarity and with much love.
Beyond Cyntia’s immediate family, the hearts of her loved ones are shattered across two Atlantic Canadian provinces and countries, including Lebanon and Saudi Arabia. If she may, Bambi sends her heart to not only Cyntia’s parents (+ sister), but also to her larger family abroad. Same goes to all those who were touched by her short journey among us.
Indeed, we ALL share the painful loss of Cyntia’s parents, even if we cannot dare to imagine not even a single drop of the ocean of their sorrow. With them, and with her cute sister, we are all one tear, one hug of solidarity, one moment of silence and of prayer; just like in the beautiful, and hopefully comforting, EL Fatiha prayer (shared below). The latter is followed by the Vole, vole [Fly,Fly] song of Ms. Céline Dion, with English sub-titles. It is performed by Mr. Emmanuel Moire [thanks to him for making it public on Youtube].
This being said, now is the time for Bambi to pause to salute all the community members who came together, in a remarkable way, to support Cyntia’s family to the best of their capacity. Bravo to ALL of them, especially to Lamia and Fred. A big thanks also to Cyntia’s healthcare team at the IWK Hospital in Halifax, NS, and maybe elsewhere as well.
Finally, to end on a spiritual note despite the unbearable pain, Bambi is inspired by the words of faith of Cyntia’s grieving family. To illustrate the latter, she will translate the Arabic words of her obituary: “With much acceptance of God’s will, may he be praised, we mourn our dearest deceased Cyntia Bou Melhem”. May the faith of Cyntia’s mom and dad help them in remaining grounded during their life-long grief journey. May God know how to comfort their aching hearts. Same wish goes to Tia-Isabella and to the extended family.
As for you sweetest Cyntia, fly, fly in peace ❤️… may your memory be eternal. Thank you for having existed. Thanks to your parents for having brought you into the world and to Canada, raised you with much love, and honoured you until your last breath. They are a source of inspiration to Bambi and to all of us!
“Air Passenger Rights is an independent nonprofit organization of volunteers, spearheaded and coordinated by Gábor Lukács” (https://shorturl.at/lMST6).
Thank you, Dr. Lukács for your incredibly clever and helpful advocacy work.
In addition to supporting passengers, you are a source of inspiration to Bambi.
Please keep up the great work, which offers Canadians a ray of hope!
Humans are social beings. To survive, live, and thrive, they need to be surrounded. Of course, quality of our interpersonal relationships matter much more than quantity.
Those of us lucky to have true and genuine friendships are blessed with life assets. The latter resist geographical distance, time, and silence. They can buffer the effect of high stress and even transcend death.
Bearing all the above in mind, how do those supportive friendships start? In other terms, how do we make new friends? And how do we keep older ones even when we move or when we become too busy with our lives? How do we re-honour those friendships if we have lost them with time or due to misunderstandings? And should we keep all our friends in our lives? When is the time to end them or to keep nurturing them?
How precious are the strangers we meet in times of adversity who smile at us while, slowly but surely, becoming unexpected friends when so-called ones existed our lives?
What about the good Samaritan who extends a hand of support during a challenging moment or a journey of solitude?
And what about each one of us for us: how can we re-connect with the respective forgotten, or neglected, friends within us?
How can we be or remain a good friend to someone else?
Or how do we grieve meaningful seasonal friendships that came to an end? Or those dear friends, like family members, who were taken from us by death?
Lots of questions. The answers belong to each one of us. Time is said to be a good friend in this learning process. You are welcome if you wish to publicly share your thoughts on this topic. If you prefer, Bambi would also enjoy hearing from you more privately. This being said, she will now end this post by thanking you for being her blog’s friends. Have a wonderful day tomorrow whether you will make a new friend or you will act in a friendly way to someone else!
This evening, and almost accidently, Bambi discovered Mr. Mario Pelchat’s beautiful French-Canadian song entitled “Croire” [Believe], which is all about what is essential in our lives. Of course, beliefs are a personal matter. We all believe in something, in someone. Some of us may be disconnected from our beliefs yet we can re-embrace them “to live again”, as the song goes. This brief musical post features this song, along with a quick English translation of its lyrics. Thanks to Mr. Google Translate for his assistance. As for Mr. Pelchat, may he keep singing and inspiring us.
“Believe in the beauty of the world
In the goodness of men
Believe in the deep truth
And believe that everything is forgiven
Believe in the summer sun
To the path that must be followed
Knowing that time heals us
And believe in humanity
Oh believe in lost love
In dreams, in a child
May this hope be from the fall of heaven
Or spring
Believe it for just a moment
It’s still living
To believe is to live again
To believe is to live again
Believe in guitar chords
With melodies that make you laugh
Say that the end
Is just a departure
For paths to the future
Believe in the earth beneath our feet
Raise a glass to friendship
Hope for just one day
That we can love each other
Without breaking
Oh believe in lost love
In dreams, in a child
May this hope be from the fall of heaven
Or spring
Believe it for just a moment
It’s still living
To believe is to live again
To believe is to live again
To survive my tears
I believed in other lives elsewhere
When the night slows down my wounds
A better world
A better world
Oh believe in lost love
In dreams, in a child
May this hope be from the fall of heaven
Or spring
Believe it for just a moment
It’s still living
To believe is to live again
To believe is to live again
To believe is to live again
To believe is to live again“.
Thank you L’Orient Today for informing of the following horrible forthcoming public crimes against innocent Yemeni gay men : “A Houthi-run court in Yemen has sentenced 13 people to public execution on homosexuality charges, a judicial source said Tuesday, as human rights groups decried a rise in abuses by the Iran-backed rebels” (https://rb.gy/ema36z). Does anyone care about them?
In a world filled with senseless violence and intolerance, thankfully there will always be room for music, songs for love, and prayers. Ms. Giulia Falcone’s pure voice, refreshing talent, and remarkable sensitivity, at a young age and in in all languages, are inspiring to say the least. Of note, her last song combines Italian with French. Bambi is happy she discovered Ms. Falcone and could not wait to share with you her talent. She thanks her for existing and urges her to keep singing to make our world a better place!
Bambi had a lot on her mind lately. As a result, her memory got a little birthday confusion. Indeed, she wrote in an earlier post dedicated to her cousins that Rana’s birthday was on February 4th, instead of the 6th. Thankfully, she just corrected this little mistake.
Before realizing the above though, and very early this morning, she wrote to both Rana and Karen [in the middle of her sleep :)] to say sorry for having missed their birthdays. How funny this moment was when her sister made her realize that their joint birthday is only tomorrow at their end in Lebanon, which is now at her end in Atlantic Canada.
Well, regardless of the precise day of this special month, she trusts that both Rana and Karen will forgive her for having made them slightly order :). At the end of the day, what matters is the expression of affection and the good wishes. Indeed, Bambi’s heart is filled with love for them. She considers herself blessed to have seen them both a month ago.
This being said, now is the time to conclude their post. In doing so, Bambi will address Karen first by saying the following: your aunt loves you beyond words and is proud of the wonderful woman you became. As for you Rana, your cousin who loves you a lot is inspired by you in so many ways, including your care for your parents (in addition to your cooking talent). Have fun both of you while singing for life, as per Mr. Michel Fugain’s song by Kids United (subtitled in English)!
Is there anything more cruel to a mom, a spouse, a sister, and an entire nation than total impunity for a crime of their loved one?
In this brief musical post, and with much love, Bambi’s heart goes to her sister, and her colleagues too, as well as to her dear friends currently grieving a recently deceased loved one, including her own friend/family friend. Many of them are readers of this blog and they will recognize themselves. They may be reading now from as far as Lebanon or as close as Atlantic Canada (Sackville, Moncton, and Dieppe), and the USA. May the memory of their loved ones be eternal. Peace to their hearts and souls with every passing day and night.
