
'If a writer can make a difference, it's with the pen of his/her thoughts' Claudys de Kantara

I admire you. Not for your politics, but for your free-minded opinions. Not for your looks but for the skill of your pen. Not for the words you spoke but for the love and passion I always perceived behind them. Not for what they told me about you but for what I thought you were: a free, open-minded, patriotic, charismatic, passionate, successful journalist. But now that you’re gone, I have more reasons to admire you. You came back to your country even though you knew you were a potential target for a bomb attack. You never turned your back on your country, your people, and your admirers. You fought for
You were probably the only Member of Parliament that I actually liked. I didn’t like your becoming a politician; the politicians here always seem to rot to the bone before they spend a full year in their cushioned seats. That doesn’t mean I stopped liking you: you were a journalist, a writer, a wielder of the pen.You were what Idreamed of becoming. But now you’re gone!
Calm, swift, cool and deadly, you stroke at whoever harmed
Who’s going to defend us, if not you? Who’s going to fight for us, if not you? Who’s going to wield the Lebanese pen, if not you? Who’s going to deafeat our enemies with the power of written words, if not you? Who am I going to admire, if not you?
Gebrane Tuéni, you have joined the list of all the martyrs our country has watched die these many years. And, just like them, you did not deserve to die that way, you did not deserve to lose your life to a cowardly enemy that stays in the dark. This enemy keeps hoping that the shadows that loom around him will obscure him from our view. We all know who that enemy is, that yellow-livered chicken that would hang the entire human race rather than revealing its ugly face, distorted by anger and hatred.
One can only hope that Justice will find a way and that these criminals, that have no value whatsoever of human life, pay the price of their hateful, unjustified actions. No one ever said life was fair, but we were never warned that it could be so unfair. Gebrane Tuéni, you were snatched, first and foremost, from your family and loved ones: your loving wife, your adorable daughters, your weary father… You were taken away from the Lebanese political scene that needed you now more than ever in these trying times. And last but not least, you were stolen from us, the people, the admirers, the followers and the hopeful. Hopeful that one day, this country might live up to your expectations and to our dreams. Gebrane Tuéni, may God have mercy of your soul and may He soothe your loved ones’ pain.