In front of me are photos of the old Lebanon, dating back to the 1960s and earlier; all of them remind me of the Lebanon that was. There is a group of photos of Emir Majid Arslan, the country's minister of defense for decades. I looked at his imposing figure and mustache, and Arab headdress, and remembered my grandfather. When my grandfather and grandmother took a trip to Italy, at the insistence of their daughters, people gathered around my grandfather at the airport because he was wearing a tarboush (fez). For the first time in his adult life, he took it off, and caught a severe cold as a result. Even so, the people around him did not go away, so my grandmother asked him to bring down his twirled-up mustache, which was just like Emir Arslan's. He refused to compromise on his mustache, as he did with the tarboush, so he and my grandmother became a tourist attraction for the Italians until they returned to Beirut, when my grandfather swore he would never take a trip again. The photos were sent to me by my friend and colleague Fatina Salaheddine, the editor of Sahafa newspaper in the United States. I did not know Emir Arslan personally, even though I have friends from his family. However, I knew President Camille Chamoun well, and found a picture of him with the King of Saudi Arabia, Saud bin Abdel-Aziz. Chamoun kept rare hunting dogs in Hadath outside Beirut, where I lived. Everyone hoped that the president would give him or her one of his "puppies." When Dr. Pierre Dakkash was elected to Parliament for the South Metn district, supported by the president, we went to his manor in the town of Saadiyat in celebration. His wife Zalfa made us tea with homemade “semsmiyyi” (sesame dipped in syrup). Afterward, I followed the president's hunting competitions in Tiro in Furn al-Shubbak. King Saud visited Lebanon in 1957, and we were teenagers at the time. We heard that the king was going to throw gold Liras at the crowd, so we stood in front of the Omari mosque, clapping and yelling for him, but he did not toss any coins. I think the story was deliberately planted by the government, so that people would crowd around the mosque. I found a beautiful picture of an Arab summit in Beirut, after the Tripartite attack on Egypt, which brought together Chamoun, King Saud, King Hussein of Jordan and King Faisal II of Iraq. However, I was too young for this summit; I can tell readers about the Beirut summit of 2002, when I had just become an adult (I hope readers do not reveal my real age), or I could tell them about King Hussein; he was a friend during the decades he was on the throne. Perhaps I can correct a mistake, since I found a photograph of the destruction of airplanes at Beirut airport on 10 October 1965, but I do not remember this incident. There was a well-known act of Israeli terror on 26 December 1968, when I was a student, and the head of a shift at Reuters. My aunt, whom we dubbed "Reuter", told me about the incident. She was watching it take place while drinking coffee on the roof of her home in Hadath. The head of the agency in London congratulated me for being so quick and accurate in my work to report it. I found photos of Charles Malek and Raymond Edde; the former was an academic and an internationally-known Lebanese public figure and politician, while the latter was the most honest and ethical Lebanese politician who I knew, and while I cannot deny there are others like him, I have not known them. How do today's politicians compare to Malek and Edde? We complain about the army, but a photo of President Fouad Chehab reminded me that this military man was Lebanon's best post-Independence president. I found photos of Riad Solh, Mahmoud Fahmy Naqrashi, Jamil Mardam and Hajj Amin Husseini. Once again, I can ask about Lebanon, Egypt, Syria and Palestine – how do today's leaders compare to these great men? There were two Lebanese prime minister's whose careers I followed, and whom I respected: Saeb Salam and Rashid Karami. I knew them for years and my relationship with Saeb Beyk became stronger when he lived for years in Geneva. I once interpreted an interview with Rashid Effendi with Henry Luce of Time Life, but I wrote about this interview once, and will not repeat it here. The photos are very beautiful and they seem to be taken from Time's archive. They remind me of great people whom I cannot compare to some of the dwarves we have been enduring in our disappointing present-day. I hope that we all see better days. [email protected]
