The Rayyes Family — A Family Gathered by the Loftiest Aim!

You — here...!

...I turned around suddenly, at the party of the National College in Aley, to glimpse Riad al-Rayyes behind me... and in a burst of joy I forgot the sting of the blow he had landed on my shoulder.

Years ago I had seen Riad for the last time, before he traveled to America for advanced study. His brother Aref was then studying at the School of Fine Arts in Paris, and his father and mother were in Africa... As for Farid, the young one, he stayed in Beirut, studying and watching over the affairs of the house — and the affairs of his little sister, little Salma, who was at the Sirat school in Aley.

I was taken aback at seeing Riad, for I had not expected to see him. He talked with me, and there opened before me in his soul horizons that had not been apparent at the start of his life, when he and I shared a single bench at school. And I remembered the thrill that shook me last year when I read that Riad al-Rayyes had been elected president of the World Students' Club, which gathers close to thirty million students of every nationality!!

— Did you come alone, Riad?

— No — the whole family came. My father and mother from Africa, Aref from France, Farid from Beirut, and I from Oklahoma, so that we might all meet at sweet little Salma's, in Aley.

And I went to the house. The second surprise was seeing Najib al-Rayyes. Would you not be surprised,

as I was, to learn that the man in this drawing, whose youthfulness towers above the young, is the father of this family?

And I met Aref, the sensitive rebel artist — and hundreds of old pictures were erased from my mind to make way for one great, noble picture: a picture that made me feel I was flying on thousands of wings, cheering for a homeland to which its children return... For Najib al-Rayyes was carried along by a lofty aim — to secure comfort and peace of mind for his family — and his struggle won him what he wanted...

And Aref, who cut the path of his ambition by his own striving and became the authentic artist... I will not linger over him — he is an artist, and that is description enough!

And Riad... I left him a simple, ordinary student... only to see him leap — not with himself alone, but with his homeland's good name as well — to a summit he built himself and stood upon himself. Have I told you that Riad is the author of the Dr. "Bennett" project — or the Mr. Rayyes project? Riad is the author of the project for "the worldwide exchange of students to cement friendship among the leaders of the future for the sake of cementing world peace." This project will shortly be approved by Congress, and it will carry the face of our bountiful homeland to the world in the name of Riad al-Rayyes!!

And Farid... the growing lad... I see him today, his manhood complete, preparing to enter the university.

And little Salma... all I will say of her is that she is sweet — and spoiled!!

And above all of this, there is the mother — the great-hearted mother, to whom I remain powerless to give what she deserves. It may even diminish the worth of motherhood to speak of a mother's struggle, a mother's heart, a mother's patience. She is the one person in our lives of whom we are unable to speak; for the written word, at its utmost depth and radiance, stands with folded hands before that thing... which cannot be named, and which the word "mother" calls forth...

A family scattered by lofty aims... and gathered by a loftier one: to meet — and under the sky of the homeland... A goodly family, in a goodly homeland!..