WE shall try to examine sincerely the role that has been entrusted to us women, and to see whether we are truly carrying out what is expected of us as Lebanese women. What is our mission? It is a question worth asking, for only when one becomes conscious of one's role, even the most effaced, the most modest of roles, is one happy.
We have not yet become conscious of our role; the young girls of today find themselves at a loss; more than one spends her time dressing herself in fine attire and surrounding herself with fine novels. It is certainly our duty to have an outward appearance as agreeable as possible and in perfect harmony with our personality; but let us not forget that we have a soul which must be attended to as well.
How many young girls waste their time, their strength, their aptitudes, their gifts, and their chance of happiness. They do not know that Society needs them, that they can be very useful.
For today we are witnessing a great world upheaval; thinkers and men of science are bewildered. A century ago, it was believed that modern discoveries would ensure the happiness and greatness of humanity. Today, a tragic discord
has appeared between the dazzling success of technology and the withering of civilization.
"Through Scientific Knowledge," said Dr. Lavalée, "we have become demigods; through our morals we have rejoined the barbarians."
Lebanon shares, in a relative way, in this general phenomenon. We have one of the most beautiful countries in the world, but a spectacle, a landscape has meaning only through a culture, a civilization. We must therefore give Lebanon a fine civilization, more flourishing still.
What of our state of mind? Out of vanity, and perhaps because we are superficial, we remain too attached to the façade, to appearances in everything. To build the Lebanon of tomorrow, we must be assured that the higher forces of this country and its deeper values will in no case give way. This is, decisively, a question of education and of morals. Civilization! Morals!
Now, in every epoch of history, for good or for ill, if man has made the laws, woman has made the morals; if man has, in general, held authority, woman has exercised influence.
It is we, therefore, who make the morals, the culture, the civilization. It is upon us that the most important and the most difficult task falls, because it cannot be made concrete, well defined, well delimited. To the task of mother, then, we join that of educator and inspirer.
To be able to exercise a good influence, it is not enough to wish it; one must oneself possess a solid culture, a sound judgment, and an inner richness ceaselessly renewed. It is women who create the atmosphere favorable to the flowering of art, science, and culture. But to create this atmosphere, one must flower oneself, must develop one's faculties and natural gifts. Let us seek, then, to instruct ourselves, to see clearly, to have a clear idea of the beings and the things that surround us.
Let us cultivate our critical sense, our artistic and literary taste, our fine discernment, which is perhaps the most specifically feminine quality.
You cannot shine with all the brilliance of your personality unless you seek true science, instruction, culture; unless you try to put your knowledge at the service of Society, each according to her