Lebanon

When we first moved into our neighborhood, one guy told us the culdesac was like the United Nations. The people who own our house are from South Africa, one family is from Korea, one is from Germany, and one is from Lebanon. The other three (plus us) are Americans. So, people here don't go out of their way to be friendly or get to know the neighbors. I have kind of forced myself on the people next door by acosting them whenever they are outside (I notice they stay inside a lot now, hmmm?) But, the German family and the Lebanese family both have been very welcoming to us.
The kids have become friends with the A. family (Lebanese) so we see them pretty frequently and just hang out and talk while the kids play.

My Lebanese friend, M. has gone to Lebanon to visit her mom. She took their youngest 3 children (they have 4) and her disabled mother-in-law with her. Her husband and oldest son stayed to do som "home improvement" projects (put in a pool, retile the whole house, etc.--he is REALLY into that stuff and she DOES NOT like to "live in Home Depot" so he takes the opportunity that she is gone to work on it)

So. . .I'm in Texas and S. is in Hawaii teaching (he has a VERY hard job!) And Israel starts to bomb Lebanon. S. calls me and we discuss if it is appropriate for us to call SA (M.'s husband) We decide that although we are American and military, we are also his friend, and it is OK for us to call and see how he is doing. So, S. calls him. He is, of course, in a panic. M's family is from Beirut. They are not there now, they are at a resort in the mountains in the north, but he is still freaking out. He has to get them out of Lebanon. He and S. discuss what he might be able to do. He has family in various places that he can try to get them to, but this is the first day of the bombing and everything is shut down--cars, boats, planes. . .nothing is leaving. S. tells SA that we will call him every day. Call either of us if there is anything we can do. SA asks us to pray for them. We assure him we will.

The next day, SA says he has sent an international cell phone to M. He has found a cab driver to drive his family to Damascus in Syria. They have family there, and they will take them to Amman, Jordan. The airline has said that they will honor Beruit flights from Amman.

The next day, S. gets home from Hawaii. He has 1 day before he leaves for Las Vegas (I told you--his job is HARD!) He goes down to check on SA. He has not slept in 4 days and is trying to figure out how to get his family out of Amman. He would prefer to get them to London, so they can pick up the flight they are already booked on, but he will take anything--Rome, Paris, whatever. He is calling airlines. S. tells him that he should use the internet--it will be quicker. S. writes down our cell phone numbers and again says if we can do anything from where we are--let us know. As he turns back to give him the paper, SA is so sad. He says "Do you have 30 minutes?" S says sure. SA says "Can you help me do this?" S. says of course. He is quick on the computer and can help find some tickets. They start looking. Everything is booked. They finally find a flight and call the airline to book it immediately. After it is booked (it took 6 minutes) they try to find more flights for a couple of days later, in case it takes longer to get to Amman. There is nothing. They have to get there for that flight. It is in 7 days.

S. goes home and the next morning goes to Las Vegas. We keep in touch with SA. Two days later, I have a message on my cell. It is SA. He says that his family is in Jordan and they will make the flight. He and his oldest son are going to join them in London and stay for a couple of days. He says about 4 times how much he appreciated S's help. He couldn't have done it without him.

The family gets to London, he meets them. They come home. All is (technically) well. But, M. is completely traumatized. She can't stop crying. She tries to talk about it, and tells me how they were holding a white sheet out of the car as they were driving so they wouldn't get bombed. She is almost hysterical just trying to describe the waiting for 4 hours to get a visa to go through Syria. She can't sleep but she is constantly exhausted. It will be a long time before she is able to settle down. She doesn't know how her mother is doing. But, she is home and her kids are safe. She tries to console herself with that.

Now--here's the thing. Our two families don't view the situation the same. Obviously, we come from two totally different spots on the spectrum with this issue. It is not something we will ever talk about with them--the politics of it all. Their kids are upset, and saying things that make my kids confused. We just try to tell them that they have been through a terrible trauma and that they should not argue with the A. kids about it. Just understand them and let them be. But--outside the political part. The BIGGER part is this. A friend helped a friend. A father helped a father take care of his family. It doesn't change the scope of international politics, but it might have a small ripple effect. SA will tell people that story. Someday, he may say "An American soldier helped me when I needed to take care of my family." Who cares? Maybe nobody. But, maybe his kids will remember that story. Or, maybe his cousin who still lives in Lebanon will remember it. Maybe in little ways like that we can bring these two seemingly opposite worlds to care about each other.

Now--don't get me wrong. S. is ALWAYS going to put the army first and he would never ever ever do something that would go against his country or his government. But, in this situation, he was able to reach out and lend a hand as a man and a father. The fact that he is an American, a Christian, and a soldier wasn't important at the time--but maybe in hindsight it will be. Someday, there may be someone talking about how all Americans are awful and our soldiers are infidels, etc. And maybe someone will say "Let me tell you a story. . ." Wouldn't it be nice to think that you impacted even just one heart even a little? I'm very proud of my husband.