Kathleen Corey Rahme, Address to LEbanese Society

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Councilor Rahme's Address to the
American Lebanese Awareness Society
Methuen Councior Kathleen Corey Rahme
07/05/06

Note: I was the keynote speaker at the 23^rd Annual American Lebanese Awareness Association Scholarship Awards Dinner where they awarded 37 students a total of $43,000 in scholarships. This is the speech I delivered on June 17, 2006.

I would like to start by sharing a beautiful story with you.

Atlas, the mythical Titan who was punished to hold the heavens on his shoulders by Zeus, was posed when, a beautiful, Phoenician woman walked by him. He was overcome by her beauty. His knees buckled. The universe shook and a piece of heaven fell down on earth and it became Lebanon in all of its beauty.

I am honored to have been asked to speak to you this evening. I would like to acknowledge the good works of the American Lebanese Awareness Association and their mission in promoting scholarship and a greater understanding of the rich culture of the Lebanese. I would like to congratulate the graduates and wish them well in their academic endeavors.

When I was preparing my speech for this evening I was thinking about what I could talk to you about. Here I am an American born daughter of a first generation Lebanese father and an Irish/Scotch mix mother. As one of seven children brought up among my mother’s Irish relatives I was always asked if I was Italian. I always said “no, I am Lebanese” and proceeded to explain how the Lebanese are the ones who eat the grape leaves and tabouleh and invariably the response would be “oh, I love grape leaves.”

Well, I am here tonight to tell you it is not about the food.

I grew up in Connecticut and with my father working two jobs as a mailman and a taxi driver, there really wasn’t a lot of time to get to know my Lebanese relatives in Methuen and Lawrence.

I came to Lawrence with my father in 1985 to attend the wake of one of his first cousins. My Lebanese cousin, Dorothy Skaff, whom I did not know, told me “you are Lebanese and you should get to know about the culture and remember you are not only Irish. Come to the mahrajan in a couple of weeks.” That’s just what I did.

When I went to the mahrajan, I was amazed by all the sights and sounds of the music and the language. I really didn’t understand what being Lebanese all was about. This was a novel experience for me. It was my lucky day to have attended this festival because it was there that I met my husband Elie. Of course upon meeting, I offered that I was half Lebanese and proceeded to tell him that my mother, while not Lebanese, made grape leaves a couple times a year whenever we could get the bread and tabouleh. It was then that he told me, “It’s not about the food.” Well, after being married for twenty years, I finally understand what he meant. It is not about the food.

I had the good fortune of traveling to Lebanon to be married in 1987 during the civil war. During my time there, to put it into historic perspective, Terry Waite was abducted and there was an attempted assassination on former President Camile Chamoun. My husband’s brother is a Maronite priest and he always hoped his brother would be the one to marry him. So, I traveled to Lebanon, alone to get married. It was there that I was able to truly discover my lost identity. I found out what it means to be Lebanese, and it was there that I discovered a rich culture and the tremendous resiliency of the Lebanese.

Even during the war, my experiences in Lebanon proved that the Lebanese people were generous to a fault. They opened their homes and their hearts. Visiting their homes showed me what putting out the red carpet was all about. They are the masters of hospitality. Family members gather around the table and they sit for hours telling stories and carrying on the traditions. People shell nuts for each other, pour drinks, toast family members both living and dead, and they eat mezza and then they eat and eat and eat. These regular gatherings are meant to insure the continuance of family traditions. There is always an abundance of food and libation, and yet, it was not about the food. It was about the family.

Everywhere I went in Lebanon the people were very excited to meet the daughter of Lebanese immigrants to America. They were curious about our life in America and wondered why we had not returned. I later returned to Lebanonin 2000 with my husband and three children. I returned to the village of my ancestors, Jdeita in the Bekka Valley. I was thrilled to meet relatives with whom I shared DNA and was struck by the family resemblances!

The relatives I met looked like me and finally, after growing up with my Irish cousins who always thought I was Italian, I looked like I belonged. They are still telling stories of my great-grandfather, who was an Orthodox priest, and how he defended his family against religious and political oppression. I am reminded that like the Lebanese of today, God, Family and Country were paramount in their lives.

We are the Phoenicians. We are the first people to travel the seas and venture to new and exciting lands. The first wave of Lebanese arrived in America only 100 years ago. We should reflect on their outstanding contributions. Hopefully we can follow suit and their example. We need to acknowledge that this tiny country about 2/3rds the size of Connecticut gave the world the alphabet, glass, the first sailors, the likes of Kahlil Gibran, Said Alekel, and other sons and daughters of Lebanon such as Dr. Michael Debake who gave us the heart pump, Danny Thomas of St. Jude Hospital, sports figures like quarter backs Doug Flutie and John Elway, entertainers like Tony Shalhoub of Monk, and director Tom Shidyac of Ace Ventura fame. Let us not forget military leader General John Abizaid of Iraqi Freedom. Christa McAuliffe followed her dreams of teaching and space and was an astronaut onboard the Shuttle Challenger. Our own local Nobel Prize winner, Elias Corey was a synthetic chemist.

We can all use these famous Americans of Lebanese decent to aspire to but I say to you, Lebanon gave us you and me. She gave us our parents and grandparents. We should aspire to make them proud.

We have an awesome responsibility to carry on the work ethic of our ancestors, of our parents and grandparents who have continuously made the reputation of being Lebanese a proud thing. For me, I remember hearing the stories of my grandparents coming to Lawrence in 1903. My great-grandfather was the second priest on the roster of St. George’s Orthodox Church. They were people you could admire and they assimilated well. Their successes are evidenced by their children and grandchildren. You must continue with that tradition.

As a politician and community activist, I often reflect on the way my parents and grandparents made contributions to their community, their family and their country. I am conscious of the whole notion of that responsibility in my day-to-day decision making processes, and no doubt you will be too, as you move forward in your career and future.

It has been my desire to serve the citizens of Methuen as an elected official and to make a difference in my community by drafting legislation that will provide much needed relief in the areas of community safety, in drug free zones and neighborhood associations. I have founded the Methuen Youth Corps to provide the youth of Methuen the opportunity to volunteer both in the City and for not-for-profits so that they can make a difference and learn the biggest secret of volunteerism, that it is in giving that you receive.

Being an American of Lebanese decent, a wife and mother, and a politician are all roles I wholeheartedly embrace. The challenges are great and many. I remind myself of my relatives who preceded me and it is there that I receive strength through their example.

It is through all of those holidays, family gatherings and Sunday dinners, mahrajans and haiflis that we have come to understand who we are. If you don’t know who you are, it will be extremely difficult to know where you are going. So, in your bright future when you are asked about your heritage, remember; remember, it is not about the food.

Kathleen Corey Rahme is the former Central District Councilor in Methuen and was elected as a city councilor “at large” last year. She is also the founder of the Methuen Youth Corps and hosts "Call to Serve." You can email her at kcoreyrahme @comcast.net

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The June, 2006 Edition of the Valley Patriot
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