both the political and religious life of Lebanon. It is now an independent state with its president and parliament elected by the people. Some of the stories and articles written by Gibran fifty years ago are a matter of history, but others are as modern as todayâs political situation, remaining timeless.
On the walls of many American homes hangs a plaque commemorating the statement of the late President John F. Kennedy:
Ask not what your country can do for you,
but ask what you can do for your country.
This statement appeared in an article written by Gibran in Arabic, over fifty years ago. The heading of that article can be translated either âThe New Dealâ or âThe New Frontier.â
The article was directed to Gibranâs people in the Middle East, but its philosophy and its lesson will continue as long as man lives in a free society. Hence we offer the translation of the whole article:
âThe New Frontierâ
by Gibran
There are in the Middle East today 1 two challenging ideas: old and new.
The old ideas will vanish because they are weak and exhausted.
There is in the Middle East an awakening that defies slumber. This awakening will conquer because the sun is its leader and the dawn is its army.
In the fields of the Middle East, which have been a large burial ground, stand the youth of Spring calling the occupants of the sepulchers to rise and march toward the new frontiers.
When the Spring sings its hymn the dead of the winter rise, shed their shrouds and march forward.
There is on the horizon of the Middle East a new awakening; it is growing and expanding; it is reaching and engulfing all sensitive, intelligent souls; it is penetrating and gaining the sympathy of noble hearts.
The Middle East, today, has two masters. One is deciding, ordering, being obeyed; but he is at the point of death.
But the other one is silent in his conformity to law and order, calmly awaiting justice; he is a powerful giant who knows his own strength, confident in his existence and a believer in his destiny.
There are today, in the Middle East, two men: one of the past and one of the future. Which one are you? Come close; let me look at you and let me be assured by your appearance and conduct if you are one of those coming into the light or going into the darkness.
Come and tell me who and what are you.
Are you a politician asking what your country can do for you or a zealous one asking what you can do for your country .
If you are the first, then you are a parasite; if the second, then you are an oasis in a desert.
Are you a merchant utilizing the need of society for the necessities of life, for monopoly and exorbitant profit? Or a sincere, hard-working and diligent man facilitating the exchange between the weaver and the farmer? Are you charging a reasonable profit as a middleman between supply and demand?
If you are the first, then you are a criminal whether you live in a palace or a prison. If you are the second, then you are a charitable man whether you are thanked or denounced by the people.
Are you a religious leader, weaving for your body a gown out of the ignorance of the people, fashioning a crown out of the simplicity of their hearts and pretending to hate the devil merely to live upon his income?
Or are you a devout and a pious man who sees in the piety of the individual the foundation for a progressive nation, and who can see through a profound search in the depth of his own soul a ladder to the eternal soul that directs the world?
If you are the first, then you are a heretic, a disbeliever in God even if you fast at day and pray by night.
If you are the second, then you are a violet in the garden of truth even though its fragrance is lost upon the nostrils of humanity or whether its aroma rises into that rare air where the fragrance of flowers is preserved.
Are you a newspaperman who sells his idea and his principle in the slave market, who lives on the misery of people like a
On the walls of many American homes hangs a plaque commemorating the statement of the late President John F. Kennedy:
Ask not what your country can do for you,
but ask what you can do for your country.
This statement appeared in an article written by Gibran in Arabic, over fifty years ago. The heading of that article can be translated either âThe New Dealâ or âThe New Frontier.â
The article was directed to Gibranâs people in the Middle East, but its philosophy and its lesson will continue as long as man lives in a free society. Hence we offer the translation of the whole article:
âThe New Frontierâ
by Gibran
There are in the Middle East today 1 two challenging ideas: old and new.
The old ideas will vanish because they are weak and exhausted.
There is in the Middle East an awakening that defies slumber. This awakening will conquer because the sun is its leader and the dawn is its army.
In the fields of the Middle East, which have been a large burial ground, stand the youth of Spring calling the occupants of the sepulchers to rise and march toward the new frontiers.
When the Spring sings its hymn the dead of the winter rise, shed their shrouds and march forward.
There is on the horizon of the Middle East a new awakening; it is growing and expanding; it is reaching and engulfing all sensitive, intelligent souls; it is penetrating and gaining the sympathy of noble hearts.
The Middle East, today, has two masters. One is deciding, ordering, being obeyed; but he is at the point of death.
But the other one is silent in his conformity to law and order, calmly awaiting justice; he is a powerful giant who knows his own strength, confident in his existence and a believer in his destiny.
There are today, in the Middle East, two men: one of the past and one of the future. Which one are you? Come close; let me look at you and let me be assured by your appearance and conduct if you are one of those coming into the light or going into the darkness.
Come and tell me who and what are you.
Are you a politician asking what your country can do for you or a zealous one asking what you can do for your country .
If you are the first, then you are a parasite; if the second, then you are an oasis in a desert.
Are you a merchant utilizing the need of society for the necessities of life, for monopoly and exorbitant profit? Or a sincere, hard-working and diligent man facilitating the exchange between the weaver and the farmer? Are you charging a reasonable profit as a middleman between supply and demand?
If you are the first, then you are a criminal whether you live in a palace or a prison. If you are the second, then you are a charitable man whether you are thanked or denounced by the people.
Are you a religious leader, weaving for your body a gown out of the ignorance of the people, fashioning a crown out of the simplicity of their hearts and pretending to hate the devil merely to live upon his income?
Or are you a devout and a pious man who sees in the piety of the individual the foundation for a progressive nation, and who can see through a profound search in the depth of his own soul a ladder to the eternal soul that directs the world?
If you are the first, then you are a heretic, a disbeliever in God even if you fast at day and pray by night.
If you are the second, then you are a violet in the garden of truth even though its fragrance is lost upon the nostrils of humanity or whether its aroma rises into that rare air where the fragrance of flowers is preserved.
Are you a newspaperman who sells his idea and his principle in the slave market, who lives on the misery of people like a
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