Salutations and Warm Greetings Nick
Thank you for sharing this interview with us.
All I can say is what I keep saying in our international community and that is to agree with you that we truly never leave our beloved Libnen by spirit but simply by body.
I am sure this was the intention of our good Lord who endowed us with such noble gift when He chose to make us born in Lebanon. For that we cannot let that divine candle ever burn out nor make the terrible mistake of forgetting to pass that candle to future generations. Indeed, this is the reason our children need not forget the land of their ancestors and their forefathers. I sincerely hope they don’t at least forget Psalms 104 or 92 among other Psalms that refer to the central tree of our cherished Lebanese flag.
I am happy to learn that you, my dear Lebanese compatriot, speak your mind and the truth with many annotations on the Lebanese identity, unlike other leaders who go out of their way to place that priority in the background. I hope current and future leaders in our home country learn the true value of the Lebanese language by adopting much reference in their speeches about the Lebanese land, the Lebanese identity, and the Lebanese nation.
I am equally grateful that you have taken the role of World General Secretary of the WLCU for I know you give your best efforts when it comes to the service of Lebanon. Grateful am I indeed for ever since you took over that post, I am continually observing the persistence of quality at WLCU.
This is evidenced in the results that have led to the WLCU association with the UN, an ambitious goal in any measure let alone for a global organization that has no financial structure and whereby its business and affairs are merely conducted on volunteering basis. You and your team have surmounted all challenges and difficulties with much dedication and painstakingly efforts on all fronts albeit legal, organizational, executional or financial. A heartfelt thank you and delayed congratulations to all engaged in this great objective and for achieving such goal in a timely fashion.
Another example of the quality I refer to is the progressive improvement of the new WLCU website. Here again is a tremendous task that needs much planning and organizational efforts and financial support, yet much of the work to date have been rolled out by volunteers who either themselves learned about what it means to be a genuine Lebanese or have learnt such privileges from their emigrant parents or forefathers. We wholeheartedly salute them for every minute they spend on this front.
Another example is your relentless pursuit on honouring specifically the previous WLCU leaders, their accomplishments however minute or extensive they were, and for the Lebanese emigrants in general through the many and global installation venues of The Lebanese Emigrant Statue.
Last but not least I thank you as a dear friend but even more as a dear compatriot Lebanese for expending your tremendous and pro bono efforts and energy in promoting the truest form of Lebanese fiber and the ambassadorial Lebanese spirit.
We look forward to the day where we can say the WLCU has finally become an organized world congress in service to all the Lebanese emigrants but to the one and only Lebanon much like peoples of other nations have successfully done in the service of their mother country. And for that ambitious plan to be realized I do hope other WLCU leaders see the benefits of having the appropriate infrastructure WLCU deserves including the financial arm and the succession planning required to fulfill its mission in alignment with its By Laws and Objectives. In a nutshell, we will know that infrastructure is in place when every Lebanese emigrant and descendant throughout the world knows the WLCU long and short term goals.
May all the Lebanese who are touched by the Lebanese spirit resolve to stay focused in this life until such day all together can sail the return voyage to the shores of the Lebanese Lebanon. It is at such time in my humble view that we can truly say we have given our privileged Lebanese citizenship its due merit, kneel in thankful prayers for earning such privilege and for receiving God’s gift on being Lebanese.
God bless you for being you and for being truthful to your genuine Lebanese Spirit.
Charbell Letèf