To My Son

On April 18, 1946, my son will be twenty-one months old. As I write to him, I set down what escapes him, during his growth, of understanding and comprehension. Perhaps he will read the letters I am preparing for him when his youth supplies him with a readiness to understand and a curiosity to know...
(M. 1)

My son!

Some would like to believe that this is the first time the soil of your homeland has been empty of any foreign soldier, or invading intruder, or usurping colonizer...

So I wish to make the matter plain to you, and show you the truth — for you are a trust in my keeping, and faithfulness requires me to acquaint you with penetrating opinions and humble truths, so that you may distinguish the good from the bad, and take hold of the right, turning away from the false.

So, my son:

On the day when the first inhabitants of your country widened the horizons of knowledge and widened the horizons of the earth, sailing round the black continent and presenting the world with a new continent,

and on the day when they never set foot upon a land without raising over it the flag of their homeland,

and on the day when they presented humanity with the keys of light, knowledge, and guidance,

and on the day when they bestowed on art the grace of beauty, unveiling the secrets of colors,

and on the day when they made their conquests, founding kingdoms, building up countries, and setting down for themselves in history a record with letters of gold and pages of diamond, moist with fragrance and perfume —

at that time, my son, your country was empty of every foreign soldier, or invading intruder, or usurping colonizer!

•

And time turned its turn, and behold, your people clasped the sons of Umayya to their breast, housed them within their ribs, and marched with them toward glory... And so our columns swept onward to the unknown reaches of the river Ganges, the hollows of Tibet, the plains of Siberia, the peaks of the Pyrenees, the pounding waves of the Atlantic, and the darkness of the forests of Africa...

That day — and the day when the cedar of your country cleaved the swell of the deep, spreading a generous sail that shaded the raging waves, and carrying to the bewildered islands a clamor of your great forefathers, to scatter them among peoples whose bonds the appetites had loosened, and whose paths had strayed from the highest ideals to trifles and trivialities... And they restored your homeland's mastery over the Mediterranean — its own sea — and set in men's hearts the awe of law and the respect of right and justice; they organized communications, and gave to government traditions and systems, and to administration principles that are followed and borrowed to this day.

At that time too, my son, your country was empty of every foreign soldier, or invading intruder, or usurping colonizer...

•

And today, after some seven centuries during which your great nation floundered in the wildernesses of interests and ambitions, tossed by the winds of force and dominion, while the tyranny of domination and aggression made havoc within her, your country rises from its stumble — and it is the last stumble, by our will and our resolve — to restore to glory its former age, to right its cherished cradle, and to independence the wellspring of its majesty.

And with all my pride in this day, my duty toward my homeland and toward you compels me to call upon you to turn your attention, tomorrow, when your faculties and your years fit you for it, to hastening to contribute the share that falls to you, so that this day and its fruits may remain a symbol of your country's dignity and a living truth of your homeland's glory.

And I believe it is your duty to possess such devotion, wisdom, and knowledge that you may vow your blood, your manhood, and your thought to the strengthening of what this day symbolizes, and to making firm the pillars of light in your great country, that it may resume its contribution to civilization as an effective force...

And my eye will be gladdened, my heart will swell with joy and delight, my feeling will thrill with an exultation surpassing every exultation, and my conscience will rest easy and assured, when I behold you — gray having streaked my hair, and the dignity of age enfolded me — marching at the head of the troops, head held high, gaze fixed upon the heights, standing erect as a symbol of your nation's youth, walking with your firm step, bearing your nation on toward glory, piercing the darkness of ignorance, carrying the torch of knowledge, spreading the light of freedom, sending from your right hand the ray of thought while from the blade of your sword flashes the gleam of strength, encircled by a halo of beautiful, harmonious order, and between your ribs the blood beating in your heart, brimming with the duty that never escapes you and that you never forget.

And in the darkness of days — if any darkness remains to them in your homeland — you will advance upon dangers as you advance upon life. Heroes have fallen before you whose course others completed after them; and my utmost wish is that you should fall only after completing the course yourself, and that your blood, in the field of the homeland, should be a watering for your own soul.