Here is a quick English translation of this beautiful French-Canadian song by Ms. Ginette Reno, followed by the song. May all the hearts heal with time, despite the pain and the absurdity of violence. May peace and love prevail…
As a reminder, Dr. Ngola went to Québec during the pandemic without self-isolating upon his return (and even sending his daughter to daycare). Just think of it, whether he was patient zero or patient 1000, he did not self-isolate and he is a healthcare provider. Is this wise? Wouldn’t you expect better from a physician had you been his patient?
Regardless of his own reasons (job interview, driving spouse to airport to travel to a funeral, etc.), his behavour was irresponsible. In all honesty, Bambi does not care about his country of birth, skin, or language. Had she been living in the small community where he was practising, she would have not been impressed by his behaviour.
As you see in one of Bambi’s earlier posts, one (and eventually two…) of the senior patients of the community in question died during this outbreak, whether caused by Dr. Ngola or not. He was unlucky because he got caught. As simple as that.
Today, the same publicly-funded CBC is informing
us that “lawyers of N.B. doctor
blamed for outbreak call for public and criminal inquiry of handling of case”:
For whom did little Sama lose her eye? For what? Her family escaped war in Syria, thinking they were safer in Lebanon, as you can see in the CBC documentary below.
What about the 192 victims who lost their lives and the 6500 injured citizens?
What about the 300, 000 homeless citizens? They are now relying on international and national food donation. What about those who are living in their heavily damaged houses, still unable to fix them? They are all, slowly but surely, smiling to a new dawn… but deep inside, their hearts are still shattered.
Many Lebanese citizens are leaving their country. Some are unable to do so. Remember, they still do not have access to their savings. They are like prisoners in their own country. Some are fortunate to be able to travel whilst some are trying illegal and risky ways. Yet others are dreaming to see their kids living in more stable countries abroad (despite the pandemic in the world).
Anyhow, here is the CBC piece for the National mentioned above:
A couple of days ago, Beirut lost a lady, Ms. Lady Yvonne Sursock Cochrane. She died in her beautiful yet damaged palace at age 98 of Beirut port explosion injuries. May her memory be eternal and thanks to her for all what she did to defend heritage!
Mind you, her place is near Bambi’s cousin, Dearest Joumana. Thank God the latter just left her apartment before the blast. This neighbourhood is not far from Bambi’s own parents. Her palace (a museum) means so much to Beirut citizens, to Lebanese people, and to tourists… Perhaps more so to Bambi’s mom who grew up nearby. Let’s hope this museum will be rebuilt soon. Thanks to the Louvre Museum in Paris who expressed solidarity with Beirut Sursock Museum. The latter has been renovated after civil war. Indeed, it took 20 years to fix it, as you can see in the pictures below:
Yesterday, another sad story came out of Beirut: an injured man in the blast, called Mr. Tanios Antoun, lost his life. He was an inpatient at the Saint George Hospital. He had to be rushed to the American University of Beirut Healthcare Centre. Despite the best medical efforts, he lost his battle against his injuries. Mr. Antoun comes from a beautiful village called Sghar. Bambi could not find an online picture of this man to honour him. To do so, she will show you two pictures of his village.
This will be followed by a song she would like to dedicate to his memory as well as to Ms. Sursock-Cochrane’s memory, if she may. It is the famous Li Beirut song of Feiruz, acapella performance by a talented artist that Bambi just discovered. Her name is Ms. Abir Nehme.
Sghar village in Lebanon. A picture taken from the internet.
Sghar village in Lebanon… Pehaps this lady is mourning Mr. Antoun now? A picture taken from the internet.
What a moving performance that took place on August 7, 2020 (three days after Beirut surrealistic blast)
To conclude this post on a lighter note, Bambi will share pictures of two beautiful guests in Beirut. One gave citizens hope of finding life under the rubble, even after a month. Flash, a clever and cute dog, came with her rescue team from Chile. Sadly, the heart beating she discovered and they sensed stopped. Thanks to them and to their Lebanese peers for searching the destroyed site for three days. At least, they can tell themselves that they did their utmost. Well, Flash became a star in Beirut in both real life and social media. Thank you Ms. Roula Douglas for sharing her picture!
Following Flash’s picture, you will see a few pictures, taken as screenshots from Roula’s’ Twitter account. Bambi tried to find ways to share the original video but was unsuccessful. Anyhow, you can still see an adorable pelican who made friends in Beirut with a café owner and fishermen. The video comes from a Bloomberg Beirut-based journalist, Ms. Lin Noueihed who wrote the following: “So I was having a bite with a couple of friends by the corniche when this fella wonders in. Apparently, he’s been visiting for the past month, looked after by the cafe owner and fishermen. And for a few minutes, the world was beautiful again. #Beirut“.
Gracias Flash!!
Cute!
As a conclusion to this post, Bambi is happy to virtually meet you, beautiful pelican. She hopes you are having a good time in Beirut. Who knows? Perhaps you brought to citizens a message of hope about any international investigation as well as more prosperous and healthy days to the Lebanese people. Until then, long live your friendship with the Beirut café owner and the fishermen!
Plus, why are our authorities dividing us based on our skin colours?
Well, what if we get tanned over the summer (like many deer of Lebanese origins or Canadians, darker than the average)? Would we qualify ??
Seriously, Bambi does not know if she should smile or cry. Indeed, the “duo” Trudeau/Freeland et al. may think they are being highly noble and fair. However, in Bambi’s mind, they are being unwise rather. She is saying this from her non-expert citizen perspective and with all due respect.
Bambi does not know how you would personally feel about all this or if you care to think about it. As far as she is concerned and had she been black, she would have found it insulting to have a funding program meant only for entrepreneurs (i.e., just because they are black business owners). In the same way, she would find it insulting to have a research funding program meant only for Arabs or so-called “White” people or just deer, etc. They will get that loan or this grant, not because of anything else, usually based on merit. No, it is just based on their so-called race.
What if you are a Canadian of Palestinian origins who happened to be black? What if you are like this school mate of hers who was black like an African and yet Lebanese. What if a business is made of several people of different shapes and shades?
Despite the good intentions, such a program gives the following message: In Canada, so-called black entrepreneurs should be treated differently because they would have not been able to make it otherwise. So, we take them by the hand, like little infants.
What happened to the concept of merit? Is this what entrepreneurs truly want? Isn’t this contrary to the spirit of entrepreneurship even, that is to attempt to make profits, by initiative and risk and by competition with all others?
When people immigrate, they dream of finding a
different place, on average better than their birth countries.
Of course, a host country must be prepared to welcome
them. However, they do have the responsibility to adjust to their new environment,
instead of changing the environment to suit them.
Adjustment to a new country is a learning process. It takes
time and effort.
Life is a give and take. You give up some ways of doing
things. You learn new ways. You learn possibly a new language, etc.
All the latest fashionable publications, mainly in the
mainstream media and even academia, exclude this responsibility. Instead, they
are all about showing us how oppressive we are as a society to the “victimized”
so-called people of colour or darker people (i.e., black), etc.
Bambi feels like saying: Enough is enough. Can we please
have more refined thought again?
To illustrate her point, Bambi would like to share
with you the following articles, just an example.
Some articles tell us that we must de-colonize our bookshelf,
to be anti-racist:
Others tells us that we
must de-colonize our practices as therapists. Look at this funny article
entitled “The Budding Field of Climate-Aware Therapy Must Be Decolonized To
Serve BIPOC Communities” (by the way, can someone tell Bambi what the
latter means. She only knows that BIPOC is supposed to include a deer
like her, since it stands for Black, Indigenous, and People of Colour. Well,
Bambi loves freedom. How can she see herself reduced to this fancy acronym
then? She refuses it ?):
Bambi is sparing you all the other articles she regularly comes across. She will just share the ones below on de-colonizing our school curriculum or businesses. Imagine, we learned today that even a mosque is calling for support for BLM:
To conclude this post, what a terribly racist country
we are… So terrible that MANY people throughout the world still dream of
immigrating to Canada!
Our current federal government is into this fashionable
ideology, at least in the discourse or symbolism (our PM even took the knee, as
they say). Yet, the Government of Canada seems attached to its policy of massive
immigration (perhaps our open borders are now more limited by the pandemic?),
even if most Canadians prefer lower numbers:
Thus, the question that comes to Bambi’s mind at the end of this post is the following: If we are that bad as a country, why are we still welcoming that many newcomers? Shouldn’t we do some internal clean-up first? Just asking ?.
Even if Bambi loves the summer (in which she was born), she adores the fall season, especially in our part of North America with its magical colours.
Even if she can “tease” the fall by telling it that its only problem is that it announces winter, she remains under the charm of our Canadian winter even after 30 years!
Of course, when something ends we may feel homesick or sad. The beauty of life is that the cycle repeats itself. There is comfort in this repetitive reality of life.
There will be another summer, hopefully minus the coronavirus. Without being too philosophical, Bambi does not want to end this Labour day without highlighting the new beginning ahead, that is the incredibly beautiful autumn season.
She hopes that the season ahead will bring a new hope to everyone here and abroad, especially to her loved ones in Beirut.
For many, the forthcoming season will be a continuation of projects, along with a new chapter of life lessons. Some lessons will be fun or challenging in a good way. Others may feel brutal or cruel (i.e., losses, destruction, or grief). However, even tough life lessons will end. Yes, they will become history, even in doomed countries like Lebanon. There is a sunshine hidden between the pages of the book of life.
To conclude this post, Bambi would like to offer you a French song celebrating the beautiful fall season, with its forthcoming “Indian summer” (like a mini second summer). Thank you Mr. Joe Dassin/Merci Monsieur Dassin for “having existed”, even if you did not live long enough to sing for more fall seasons at our end. At least, you left us your immortal song about our country (with its French and English versions)!
Bambi and her spouse usually celebrate many dates, from the first encounter through several other relationship milestones (skipping you the details ?).
Well, today is their “first date” anniversary # 18. This took place in Montreal after their unexpected encounter in Toronto a few months earlier (thanks to a lost hair clip… but that’s another story, her favourite one in life).
Funny memories of My Big Fat Greek Wedding and of being literally thrown out of a restaurant at 4 AM because this business needed to close (they told them no need to pay, the cashier closed. Can you imagine? If you want free food whilst in Montreal, try Le Marché around that time… ?). Well this did not prevent them from continuing their conversation on the side walk of McGill Street downtown.
To conclude this post, here is a little surprise from Bambi to her spouse. She will share it with all of you too (“Opa” to everyone, Katia you are on Bambi’s mind and you know why ?!).
By the way, she can assure you that this is not them dancing the Zorba, even if she adores Greece and its culture!
“4 August 2020 –> 4 September 2020. One month has passed and it still hurts, the loss of our nurses, patients and visitors, the total damage of the hospital. A documentary from our heart capturing what words cannot express. Our heartfelt gratitude to the director Zeina Farah ❤️
Bambi will spare you her blahablablah and just share the video at the end of this post. Anyhow, even if she wanted to express any word, she cannot as she is still speechless since August 4th, 2020, when the tragedy hit close to home.
Thankfully, Ms. Zeina Farah, our talented Director, put her heart and soul into this video to tell us, through people’s own words and tears, the story of what happened at that hospital on August 4, 2020.
Bambi is grateful because Zeina kindly shared her documentary, which is sub-titled in English. In it, you will see pictures and hear sounds that will move your heart.
You will listen to nurses, physicians, and health administrators sharing stories of life and death, of heroism and humanity, of devotion to medical care in the middle of a catastrophe that is beyond description, of efficacy and competence (evacuating the hospital in just a few minutes, even without mixing covid-19 patients with all the others injured patients and guests). Among all the moving stories, you may recognize that Canadian young father (who later will lose his 3-year-old daughter, Alexandra (or Lixou) :(. Bambi was moved to learn how he helped the nurse in calling her own parents to reassure them whilst they were in an ambulance rushing to take his own child to another hospital. Finally, you will hear colleagues honouring their 21 peers who lost their lives.
Following the video below, Bambi will remind you of an earlier post about this hospital immediately following the tragedy. To conclude this post, she will allow herself to borrow the words of Father Elias Farah (from the video), singing a Byzantine prayer in Arabic at the memorial for the victims who lost their lives at that hospital: “Fal Yakoun Zikrihoum Mou Abadan“. This means” “May their Memory be eternal…”.
May we all remember to love and take care of one another, at all times and perhaps especially in such absurd times of criminal negligence in a country that is fed up of corruption, violence, and of organized stupidity at the highest governance levels. Where is that investigation of five day only, that the Lebanese authorities promised? It has been “5 days” six times now…
Ideally, please start from the beginning of the video…
A picture taken from the platform of the Green Party of NB (September, 2020)
Bambi decided to take on an online tour, reading the platforms
of our political parties (ahead of our provincial elections on September 14,
2020).
With all due respect, and sometimes much admiration (for
Mr. David Coon, especially… and at times his whole team), she began reading the
platform of the party that she will be the least likely to vote for (unless she
falls on her head before election day): Our Green party of NB.
Well, she now definitely has a concrete reason not to
vote for this naively dangerous party. Here is why.
All the platform of this party looks well articulated,
nice, moderate, and clever… all except for that one picture meant to illustrate
an NB school student (http://greennbvert.ca/platform/).
It shows us a young girl (likely not having reached puberty) with a hijab on
her head. Is this the average NB kid?
This picture is a symptom of a society in Canada, with its obsession to be the most progressist possible, at all costs, even if sometimes we do not even question so-called progressist trends in the world (some political parties even include the term “progressive” in their official names, next to a word, that may sound contrary. Why? Likely because it sells well ?).
Does this beautiful yet veiled young girl look like
Ms. Megan Mitton’s daughter or Mr. Kevin Arsenault’s niece or neighbour? No and
mind you, Ms. Megan calls herself feminist. Is a girl as young as the one in
the picture able to provide an informed consent about her will to wear the hijab,
Ms. Mitton?
How could she? She is not even dressed like Bambi’s relatives and friends, those who are secular and those who are more religious. Not even like the own daughters of Bambi’s veiled friends in both NB and NS ?.
Perhaps the Green party is so taken by its noble and well-meaning
diversity concern, like the rest of North America, that it forgot the following:
Such an image, with a title of “Educating for the future” seems to represent
the dream come true of Islamists (radicals within the beautiful/moderate
religion of Islam. The one Bambi knows well and respects much).
They likely forgot or naively do not know that many young and older women like this cute veiled girl in the picture are prevented from getting an education or simply killed, if they do not wear a hijab. Yes, this happens daily in some countries of the Middle or Far East. Many boys and girls are literally thrown to their death (from a height) because they are gay in some countries. Islamism is not fun and flirting with it can backfire on everyone one day.
So, in sum, the choice of such a picture is not just unwise.
Despite the good intentions, it is somehow insulting to both girls from the so-called
ethnic or Muslim minorities in NB and girls from of the vast majority of the
745,000 citizens, who do not recognize themselves in it.
If the Green party, along with other parties, want to
be truly inclusive, perhaps it would be a good idea not to exclude the silent
majority when wanting to embrace diversity.
To conclude this post, here are earlier posts by Bambi on related topics, one with one of our federal banks (the CIBC) and the other with politicians from the provincial NDP in Alberta and the federal Liberal parties.
With all due respect to Dr. Tam (likely the most competent
in her Ministry), why is she infiltrating our bedrooms ??
The irony is the contrast between her statement now and her/our federal government’s attitude at the start of the pandemic when they should have exerted more control on our borders to prevent the entry of the coronavirus. Instead, she/they chose to lecture us on stigma and racism then.
Today, the political strategy is to sound more controlling. Sex is just a mean to do so.
Even if Dr. Tam is stating the obvious about masks, why is she getting into that much details? And as France 24 wrote, how many will be listening?
Now, Dr. Tam is right, the safest sex partner in pandemics remains oneself.
