 By: Colonel Fayez Karam (Translated freely: By Elias Bejjani) When you met and joined forces courageously and intellectually, you decided on a set of national objectives and focused with determination on Lebanon's cause for liberation. You made freedom a slogan and liberty a national conduct. You meet again in Beirut this weekend filled with spirit of national conduct to make your first conference "The start for change" a title for unity, national platform, righteous practices and patriotic believes. You personify Lebanon's perspective for the future ... You are the hope for success in national struggle, resistance and survival. Addressing your conference and speaking to you is addressing and speaking through you to all Lebanon's students. You are an ideal active sector of Lebanon's students... Lebanese all over the world are proud of you. Speaking to you, is speaking to sons, daughters, sisters and brothers who live Lebanon's national dreams with each and every Lebanese all over the world ... dreams we are all determined to fulfil and problems we adamantly endeavor to solve. We want you to succeed and not to fail in achieving your objectives...our role has been always in the parental frame of advice and guidance, but not any more. The "Free National Current" is the resistance. It is refusing Lebanon's current humiliating imposed status quo and rebelling against it. You the students are the actual resistance; both of us are partners in this confrontation. We intend to minimize the advice role and maximize instead our actual participation in bearing responsibilities with you and in taking part in all your efforts. Your slogan is commitment, and commitment can only be established through virtues of knowledge, bravery and openness. Knowledge gained through research, study, hard work, determination, a solid will to fight illiteracy and ignorance and an exceptional academic accomplishment. You are distinctive in your milieu on all levels for education and perfection; you are the foundation and the role model. Bravery enriched your hearts, spirits and minds. It made you dauntless in lobbying openly for justice, national stance, confrontation and in witnessing for the truth. Openness, based on your solid self-confidence, knowledge, tolerance, respect and acceptance of others made you the focus of the nation. You deserved your people's admiration and the whole world's respect for not being isolated, ignorant, selfish or fanatic. For all of the above we join forces with you, bow to your courage and devotion, put our experience at your disposal and refrain from assuming the adviser role... we are partners. Dear fellow students: You are the role model and the future. With your clear patriotic stance... your believes shall be solidified, With your righteous scientific social, environmental, national, educational and economical arguments your platform shall be publicly accepted, With your determination and faith your people shall follow your track and show the needed national commitment for liberation. Dear fellow students: circulate and distribute with your patriotic commitment knowledge not ignorance, bravery not fear, openness not isolation, love not hatred, forgiveness and not grudges. Long Live the FREE NATIONAL CURRENT Long Live Free Lebanon |