Toward a Better Society: The Eagles Foundation, a Society for the Advancement of Civic Conscience

The Eagles Foundation (they could as well have given themselves the name of the Society for the Advancement of Civic Conscience) is non-sectarian and non-political. Its members, young men and young women, came together around the year 1946 to establish a club for recreation and culture; and when the year 1951 came, it suddenly became clear to them that they had developed into a solid nucleus, and they took to discussing, as every Arab does, everything under the sun. The best of their debates were on questions closely tied to metaphysical philosophy. And they found that they were agreed on certain fundamental principles, among them: — that true, lasting social reform must begin with the individual; — that the growth of the social responsibility indispensable for building a sound society in the Arab countries will not be accomplished at the hands of the existing governments alone, and that they, caring about this question as they do, are bound to make the attempt and to do something of the kind.

And the Eagles Foundation is not a society for social welfare only. For though it has its social projects, it was founded at bottom to spread a certain idea. It seeks not so much to do good directly as to create in Lebanese society an interest that will urge it on to do good. The Foundation claims that its pioneers are rising to a task at which the religious and political institutions have failed, and this because their program is bounded by no narrow partisanship and driven by no sectarianism. Their first aim is to create the good citizen.

One of them said: "Membership in the Eagles Foundation is not merely an activity taken up in spare moments; membership in it is a way of life." In their daily lives the members try to live the principles on which their foundation rests. They set aside one percent of their income for the Foundation, and give generously of time and energy to carry out its broad program.

The Foundation's membership is a nucleus of toilers in the field of social service in Lebanese society. Among them are the secretary-general of the Union of Civic Organizations, the assistant head of the Department of Social Affairs in the Reconstruction Service, and the director of the social-health center of the workers' unions situated in the Mazraa quarter of the city of Beirut; among them are some members of the committee of the Lebanese Youth Centers organization, of the executive committee of the Lebanese Scouts association, of the Commandos Club in Lebanon, and of the Committee for Aid to the Blind. And among them are two members (a man and his wife) who own a farm in the Bekaa and are carrying out a rural-revival project in a neighboring village.

The Eagles have many other social projects. Every evening there gathers at their club

a band of children — chewing-gum peddlers and beggars — brought together in an atmosphere of friendship and warmth that lifts them out of the life of the streets: they are fed, they play games, and they are taught the rudiments of cleanliness, reading, writing, and some simple handicrafts, such as the making of baskets.

And in summer the Eagles run a camp for children in the countryside, so that the poorest children of the city may breathe the open air and romp free in the shade of the pines.

Among the newest undertakings of the Eagles Foundation's club is the setting aside of a place where the handwork produced by the blind is displayed and sold. This work was begun by the "Committee for Aid to the Blind," which counts an Eagle among its members. This committee is anxious to secure for the blind the bare sustenance of life, that they may not beg for it in the alleys.

The exhibition is open all day long, and the members of the committee take turns selling the handwork displayed in it.

And since they believe that the individual is the cornerstone of every social organization, it became natural that every project should begin within the Foundation itself, and afterward spread on a wider scale until it embraces society: the public lectures, the art exhibitions, the musical performances, and the running discussions all serve as a sound intellectual stimulus, from which members and non-members profit alike. And the members are enabled, at the same time, to fulfill their desire to serve society.

And although the Foundation has gathered its energies for grappling with local questions, it has remained in close touch with the international organizations, above all the UNESCO Coordination Committee for Work Camps, and the Service Civil International in Paris and Geneva. The Geneva organization approved a number of the Eagles to bring these camps into the Arab countries. And soon the Swiss, the Germans, the Americans, the Danes, the Indians, and the Arabs were working side by side to improve social conditions in Jbaa, Sidon, Jezzine, and Lebaa. Last summer, in the wake of the earthquake that befell the town of Lebaa, the international work camp, under the supervision and direction of the Eagles, undertook to create a social center and to build a number of houses, which have become models for the new building circles emerging from the earthquake's destruction.

There is no project aiming at the improvement of the individual's material, economic, and spiritual condition that the Eagles have not counted fertile ground for their aims. They have taken on free clinics, and campaigns for the cleaning of the city, and have drawn up plans for the founding of a medical cooperative, which they count among the means by which one arrives at the formation of a healthy society in which the health of the inhabitants is assured to a satisfactory degree.

Among their sayings: "No nation can hope to attain a level surpassing the level of its individuals. Only when the individuals' outlook on life is kindled with the fire of well-being, and their souls grow enlightened, may they hope for the rise of a better society and a finer nation." And they feel that the enlightened of this age do not serve to the full measure of their capacities, nor are they able to render the positive, necessary services hoped of them — and perhaps the reason for this is that they are few and scattered. The Foundation aims to unite them, so that they may become a generative force capable of creating better societies in the Middle East.