This morning, thinking again about a lovely event I attended last week, I realized another perk of living a long life: you get to see your children retire. You might even get to sit and listen while people you don’t know talk about them and their accomplishments. You get to listen to them as […]
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The truth about what is happening in Syria is complicated, full of contradictions and hard to know. The truth about what we should do or not do concerning Syria is simple, after we shed our biases. Almost everybody I know, here and in the Middle East, has an opinion, often irrelevant. I too, because […]
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The Solution We Are Afraid to Try A relative of mine who had earlier divorced in his wife, created a scandal in our family with his relationship to another woman. There were two horrifying things about the relationship. First they were a man and a woman living together and not married. Second, she was black […]
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At the publishing house I directed for 24 years in Lebanon our chief translator and editor had unusual editorial skills. As a translator he never wrote a word until he was sure he understood the intention of the English author, and in the end the work seemed to have originated in Arabic. The classical […]
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Omar Mir Seddique Mateen, whoever he was down deep, whatever his motivation, regardless of his legal right to own an assault weapon, has done more than he could have expected to do when he planned to slaughter a roomful of unsuspecting people. He may not have intended to play into the hands of a reckless […]
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Memorial Day is a perfect time to commend and defend the soldiers whom we as a country have burdened with tasks risky to their bodies and souls. It goes without saying that, if our country is at war then the people on the front edge of executing that war deserve our love. This does not […]
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Jesus was an original thinker, a revolutionary, with a tendency to turn the prevailing ideals upside down. But when Jesus said, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you,” he was quoting the Old Testament, reminding his listeners of something they were supposed to know already. And you, my reader, know that […]
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On International Women’s Day it occurred to me that I should write a story about a Middle Eastern woman, a story that would be a tribute to the brave and noble women of our world. Then I become indecisive, knowing so many women— smart women, strong women, abused and used women, courageous, creative, happy […]
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Fareed Zakaria said on CNN on October 18 that decades from now we will be glad that Barack Obama refrained from a more active role in Syria. Eugene Robinson in the Washington Post on Oct 5 wrote that Obama is right to be cautious about choosing friends in Syria and right to pursue a […]
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Because bad news tends to grab the headlines away from good news, we often fail to notice or even really don’t hear about hopeful activities and statements. For this reason I have been trying to pay special attention to good news and call other people’s attention to them. Below are ten tidbits picked out of […]
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