Today, the Gibran Khalil Gibran Cultural Association in Texas was registered. It is a new addition to the Lebanon Times’ family. One may ask now, Why, How, and what are the goals of this Association?
This Association was born to be a cultural and literary pioneer during Poetry lectures and cultural symposiums, and to all who is passionate about the Word.
One of its first aims is to erect a half-statue of Gibran Khalil Gibran at the heart of one of Houston’s public parks in the name of the Lebanese American community. We have pursued this goal with Houston’s mayor, Mr. Sylvester Turner, and together, we are looking for the best location.
In short, who is Gibran Khalil Gibran, and why the keen interest around that name, how has he become a course of study at American colleges, how can his writings and his books be found all over the world, and how did his book The Prophet become a worldwide bestseller right after Shakespeare’s writings?!
Gibran Khalil Gibran does not belong to one civilization, but was meant for all civilizations. He did not write for one religion, or one ethnic group, or one political party. He wrote about Humans, and lifted them up to the summit of Humanism. He did not write just for Lebanon, but also for all those who speak Arabic, to each Arab and each foreigner in foreign lands.
We could fairly say that Napoleon conquered parts of Europe, Hitler invaded parts of Europe, and the Ottomans ruled parts of the Levant…
However, Gibran Khalil Gibran, he conquered the whole world with his words!
Gibran was born on January 6, 1883 in the village of Becharri, and was brought up poor in the North of Mount Lebanon, which was under the Ottoman’s Mutasarrifate rule.
He passed away in New York on April 10, 1931 due to tuberculosis. He was one of Youssef Gibran Al-
Bichaalani’s grandsons. He was a child when he immigrated with his mother to the USA in 1895.
This is but a glimpse of him and we shall expand on his life story in the following issues of the magazine, including the imprisonment of his father. We will talk about how he arrived to Boston, and his relationship with May Ziade and with Salma Karame, whom he fell in love with at first sight.
It is hard to summarize Gibran in a page, in a book, or in an encyclopedia. He deserves that we present him in stages, which is what Lebanon Times Magazine proposes to do. We shall devote one page for him in each issue and it will be titled “Gibran…. Conquered the world with his words!”
Each page will look at different aspects such as, Who was his mother Kamila Rahme and what was her influence on him, How did he establish the Pen League with Mikhail Neaimy, Abdu-Lmasih Haddad, and Nasib Arida, Why did he direct the writings on his grave to be, “I am alive like you, and I am standing beside you. Close your eyes and look around and you shall see me in front of you”.
One of the most celebrated of his sayings on Marriage were, “Love one another, but make not a bond of love. Let it rather be a moving sea between the shores of your souls […]”, and “Fill each other’s cup but drink not from the same cup […]”.
This is Gibran, whose words conquered the world.
See you at the next issue.