Ya Libnan

Happy Birthday Gibran

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Today marks the birthday of Gibran Khalil Gibran also known as Kahlil Gibran the famous Lebanese American artist , poet and writer.

Google has remembered Gibran in their doodle today.

Born in 1883 in the northern village of Bcharre, Lebanon and died on April 10, 1931, in New York.

The doodle is Google’s first doodle for 2011 after its traditional new year doodle that was up January the 1st .

Gibran is best known for his 1923 book The Prophet, a series of philosophical essays written in English prose. An early example of Inspirational fiction, the book became extremely popular in the 1960s .

Gibran is the third best-selling poet of all time, behind Shakespeare and Lao-Tzu.

Ask not

“Ask not what your country can do for you. Ask what you can do for your country”.

Ask any American school kid who uttered these noble words and the reply will be : John F. Kennedy at his inaugural speech on January 20, 1961

But what most Americans do not know is that half a century before Kennedy rose to fame, this phrase was actually penned in an article entitled “The New Frontier” by Gibran Khalil Gibran. He used these impressive words while addressing his countrymen, urging them to revolt against the Turkish occupation of Lebanon.

“Today Lebanon needs Gibran more than ever before,” a Bcharre resident told Ya Libnan and added: “Thanks Google”

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13 responses to “Happy Birthday Gibran”

  1. PROPHET.T Avatar
    PROPHET.T

    Happy Birthday Gibran……..Rest in peace.
    Over eighty years ago, this great man looked deeply at his nation,
    and spoke these words, describing pitiful picture of his nation.
    Sadly, over the years since he uttered these words, nothing has changed.
    Everyone repeats your word of wisdom,
    But very few act upon them.

    “Pity the nation that is full of beliefs and empty of religion.
    Pity the nation hat wears a cloth it does not weave,
    Eats a bread it does not harvest,
    And drinks a wine that flows not from its own wine-press.
    Pity the nation that acclaims the bully as hero,
    And that deems the glittering conqueror bountiful.
    Pity a nation that despises a passion in its dream,
    Yet submits in its awakening.
    Pity the nation that raises not its voice
    Save when it walks in a funeral,
    Boasts not except among its ruins,
    And will rebel not save when its neck is laid
    Between the sword and the block.
    Pity the nation whose statesman is a fox,
    Whose philosopher is a juggler,
    And whose art is the art of patching and mimicking.
    Pity the nation that welcomes its new ruler with trumpeting,
    And farewells him with hooting,
    Only to welcome another with trumpeting again.
    Pity the nation whose sages are dumb with years
    And whose strong men are yet in the cradle.
    Pity the nation divided into fragments.”

  2. PROPHET.T Avatar
    PROPHET.T

    Happy Birthday Gibran……..Rest in peace.
    Over eighty years ago, this great man looked deeply at his nation,
    and spoke these words, describing pitiful picture of his nation.
    Sadly, over the years since he uttered these words, nothing has changed.
    Everyone repeats your word of wisdom,
    But very few act upon them.

    “Pity the nation that is full of beliefs and empty of religion.
    Pity the nation hat wears a cloth it does not weave,
    Eats a bread it does not harvest,
    And drinks a wine that flows not from its own wine-press.
    Pity the nation that acclaims the bully as hero,
    And that deems the glittering conqueror bountiful.
    Pity a nation that despises a passion in its dream,
    Yet submits in its awakening.
    Pity the nation that raises not its voice
    Save when it walks in a funeral,
    Boasts not except among its ruins,
    And will rebel not save when its neck is laid
    Between the sword and the block.
    Pity the nation whose statesman is a fox,
    Whose philosopher is a juggler,
    And whose art is the art of patching and mimicking.
    Pity the nation that welcomes its new ruler with trumpeting,
    And farewells him with hooting,
    Only to welcome another with trumpeting again.
    Pity the nation whose sages are dumb with years
    And whose strong men are yet in the cradle.
    Pity the nation divided into fragments.”

  3. Georgeabuali Avatar
    Georgeabuali

    Thank you for the long memory! and If you studied in Lebanon and went up the rank pass BC2, sure you would have studies most Gibran’s books, and that depends where you studied. I myself learned and admired the great Gibran and his philosophy.

    Though the sad part about the education system in Lebanon resembles a parrot learning were students learn to recite to receiving a good grade and nothing more, few get it and digest the lessons behind such recitation, and that depends on the teacher and the support.

    The Lebanese education system teaches nothing to excel , and focused on the French colonial teaching system that put on us in this mess in the first place, unless you have a good hand to orient you and help you focus on education and the big picture, and that life learning is a school full of intriguing thoughts and experiences, that include Gibran writing, and the lack of it what took Lebanon and the Lebanese to this ridge of collapse that is summed by civil war, strive, and bickering.

    You hear pride that Gibran belong and from Lebanese society, but they stop short of being or thinking like him.

    Happy Birthday Gibran,

  4. Avatar
    Anonymous

    Thank you for the long memory! and If you studied in Lebanon and went up the rank pass BC2, sure you would have studies most Gibran’s books, and that depends where you studied. I myself learned and admired the great Gibran and his philosophy.

    Though the sad part about the education system in Lebanon resembles a parrot learning were students learn to recite to receiving a good grade and nothing more, few get it and digest the lessons behind such recitation, and that depends on the teacher and the support.

    The Lebanese education system teaches nothing to excel , and focused on the French colonial teaching system that put on us in this mess in the first place, unless you have a good hand to orient you and help you focus on education and the big picture, and that life learning is a school full of intriguing thoughts and experiences, that include Gibran writing, and the lack of it what took Lebanon and the Lebanese to this ridge of collapse that is summed by civil war, strive, and bickering.

    You hear pride that Gibran belong and from Lebanese society, but they stop short of being or thinking like him.

    Happy Birthday Gibran,

  5. Fauzia45 Avatar
    Fauzia45

    Happy Birthday Gibran !I would also like to share some of his powerful words! ¨¨The better to keep their thrones and ease of mind did they arm the Druse against the Arab and stir up the Shite against the Sunnite and encourage the Kurd to slaughter the Bedouin and put Moslem to dispute with Christain……..Until when will the Cross be separated from the Crescent before the face of God?¨……….¨I believe in God ,who hears the cry of your tormented spirits and sees in your broken hearts.I believe in the Book that makes all brothers equal before the sun.I believe in the teachings that free you and me from bondage and place us unfettered upon the earth ,the stepping place of the feet of God!¨¨

  6. Avatar
    Anonymous

    Happy Birthday Gibran !I would also like to share some of his powerful words! ¨¨The better to keep their thrones and ease of mind did they arm the Druse against the Arab and stir up the Shite against the Sunnite and encourage the Kurd to slaughter the Bedouin and put Moslem to dispute with Christain……..Until when will the Cross be separated from the Crescent before the face of God?¨……….¨I believe in God ,who hears the cry of your tormented spirits and sees in your broken hearts.I believe in the Book that makes all brothers equal before the sun.I believe in the teachings that free you and me from bondage and place us unfettered upon the earth ,the stepping place of the feet of God!¨¨

  7. Leborigine Avatar
    Leborigine

    Happy Birthday to a true Lebanese poet. You are the heart and soul of this great land.

    “But let there be spaces in your togetherness and let the winds of the heavens dance between you. Love one another but make not a bond of love: let it rather be a moving sea between the shores of your souls.”

  8. Avatar
    Anonymous

    Happy Birthday to a true Lebanese poet. You are the heart and soul of this great land.

    “But let there be spaces in your togetherness and let the winds of the heavens dance between you. Love one another but make not a bond of love: let it rather be a moving sea between the shores of your souls.”

  9. Avatar
    Anonymous

    Happy Birthday to a true Lebanese poet. You are the heart and soul of this great land.

    “But let there be spaces in your togetherness and let the winds of the heavens dance between you. Love one another but make not a bond of love: let it rather be a moving sea between the shores of your souls.”

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