A Lebanese-American Story - Hope for the Middle East
John ShanahanApril 20, 2024
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Lebanon is an important part of the world with a complex history. It is in West Asia, also called the Middle East or the Near East. It borders Syria, Israel and the Mediterranean Sea.
For centuries, it was near ancient trade routes between Europe, Asia and Africa. The region is important to Christians, Jews, and Muslims.
Lebanon has a beautiful coastal, mountains, and valleys. The Cedars of Lebanon are its famous tree.
When it is not involved in wars, Lebanon is a prosperous business center and vacation destination for people in Europe, Africa, and Asia.
The story of this friendship sheds light on potential solutions to long standing problems. The integrity, intellect and character of this Circassian-Arab is a good example of how Muslims, Jews and Christians can live together in peace. He grew up in Tripoli, Lebanon and immigrated to the United States for college studies. His story is different than many stories coming from the Middle East today.
First, some history. From 3,200 to 539 BC the region was part of Phoenicia. The East Coast of the Mediterranean has been home to Jews during centuries of the Old Testament in the Bible.
In 64 B.C. the Roman Empire conquered the region. It became a place mostly with Jews who had converted to Christianity until the Muslim conquest in the 7th century AD.
Nine European Crusades across Europe and in the Holy Land lasted from 1096 to 1291 AD. The conquest of Jerusalem in the First Crusade was particularly savage! Christianity?
Lebanon was ruled by the Turkish Ottoman Empire from 1516 to 1918. During Turkish occupation, education and business were suppressed.
The story of Jews leaving their ancestral homeland is called the Jewish diaspora. It started in the 8th century BCE. After Nazi programs to exterminate Jews in the 1930s and 40s, the United Nations recognized the State of Israel on May 14, 1948 they began to return.
Since 1948, Iran, other Islamic countries and extremist militant groups have aimed to destroy Israel. It has defended itself.
Today, the future of the Middle East is as challenged as ever.
The story of this Lebanese-American shows potential for peace in the Middle East. There are similar personal stories from Jordan, Iraq and other countries.
We are able to tell his story, but not use his name. John Shanahan met him in Denver, Colorado, USA in 2004. The two discovered a mutual interest in the Middle East and hiking in the Colorado Rocky Mountains. They hiked and snowshoed for 16 years in all seasons and shared experiences with other hiking friends. They met for long evenings of Lebanese home cooking and discussions about his life growing up in Lebanon, his college studies in the USA, his three careers in the United States, and about the situation in the Middle East.
American friends hiked and snowshoed in the Rocky Mountains, Colorado, USA for 16 years.
Their cultural heritages are Circassia, Canada, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Lebanon and the UK.
His great grandmother was a refugee from Russian persecution in Circassia. In 1865, she fled on foot from Circassian homeland near Sochi, Russia to Jordan. The Circassians were fierce defenders of their homeland. For every Circassian casualty, there were many Russian casualties. This friend is as tough as his Circassian forefathers.
The Russian-Circassian genocide was like the Russian-Ukraine war today. Uncalled for mass killing of innocent people. Too bad. There are many good Russian people, not to mention writers, artists, scientists and engineers.
His great grandmother married an Arab after settling in Jordan.. While he was growing up in Lebanon, there was constant fighting between Christians and Muslims. He didn’t think he was going to live to age twenty. He worked with Jews, Muslims and Christians.
He had three separate careers where he demonstrated his intelligence, dedication to good business practice and loyalty to his employers.
In his first career he used his education in electronics to manufacture environmental monitoring equipment and service it at client facilities around the world. He saw how clients would turn off the environmental monitoring equipment when they wanted to release pollutants.
In his second career, he was a restaurant manager. He did his best to maintain high standards with the employees for food quality.
In his last career, he was an accountant for a large medical practice business. He constantly worked to correct false bills and other corruption in order to protect the doctor-owners.
This friend from Lebanon has had a good life in America, served his employers well, enjoyed hiking and snowshoeing with friends in the mountains and shared evenings with good Middle Eastern home cooking and conversations about the world.
If people in the Middle East would be as good as this person, how much better would everything be?
