To a Visiting Emigrant

In Lebanon, we have many issues that might drive you to complaining and to anger, and other things to joy. My advice to you: do not stay in your country as though you are a stranger. No matter how many years you've been abroad, you do know your country. You do know what is existent and what you desire to be available. We are a people who do not lack complaining and being angry. Do not let the glass that is half-empty take your eyes off its other full half. Try to avoid comparing a dying country to a country that has captivated you. Do not enumerate our adversities. If you do, you are not telling your listener something he does not know. The country you came from has not started out any better. It has become (what it is). Its people have toiled over it. Here, we are toiling, so far, to keep on living, and getting weary of resisting thoughts that tempt us to leave, and weary of waiting for you! Can Lebanon be a real country again? This is an enduring hope. I have a single word for you: rejoice!