Aoun Addresses Lebanese Youth in Message

President Michel Aoun on Friday delivered a message addressing the Lebanese youth saying “because you are the future of Lebanon, my message today is dedicated to you,” the address began.

The President’s address continued as follows:

“We have inherited from our ancestors a beautiful but exhausted country that needs much effort and work at various levels; and we are striving with all our strength to pass it on to you in a better shape, so you can move on in turn, and so that your children and grandchildren receive a more beautiful and finer legacy.

This is the law of nature and life, every generation bends on the pillars laid down by its predecessors, relying on the expertise of prior generations, developing them and enriching them with its own, with new sciences and knowledge, adding a new course to it. This is how humanity evolved; this is how knowledge, science and culture piled up; and this is how man reached inventions and innovations as he did.

You are qualified to behold more knowledge than we have, as we have acquired more knowledge than our fathers; knowledge is in constant development and in a constant race against time. However, principles, values ​​and ideals are unwavering and they are in danger, so beware because they are the basis of society and if they fall they bring it down.

People are all equal in birth and death, but they become distinguished in how they lead their lives. Distinction begins in shape, color and fingerprint, and the difference begins in thought, opinion, feeling and belonging.

Difference is more than a right, it is the nerve of life and evolution because it is the uniqueness of man. Otherwise, humanity would not have progressed, nor would we have known any creativity. Imagine for a moment that all human beings, were intellectually cloned, carrying the same opinion and thinking.

Therefore this difference is a blessing, not a curse, but what is important is how to manage it because adding the difference between us enriches us and pushes us forward in all fields, but if we drift to disagreement, we lose.

The correct administration of the right to be different first means recognizing it, that is, acknowledging the other's right to exist and be different in color, belonging, thinking, belief and opinion ... this is the human society to which we all belong.

The freedom of religious and political belief is sacred, keep in mind that the relationship between man and his creator is a direct vertical relationship, no one has the right to interfere in it. Remember too, that the human mind is free and soars however it wishes, and he alone bears responsibility for his right and wrong.

Free of expression is also sacred, but it takes truth as its ceiling and ethics as its boundaries; each human has the right for self expression, to express his opinion and belief, and to try to convince the others with logic and argument. Yet, launching of rumors and lies and using insults are not freedom, because they are an assault on the rights, dignity, reputation and credibility of others.

These are the pillars of a cohesive society and the fence that protects the nation. Remember them well: the right to difference, the freedom of belief and opinion and the freedom of expression. Experience has taught us that these are untouchable constants, when at some point we tended to undermine them, we almost lost the nation.

My hope is that you will be able to consolidate them further, so you can succeed where we failed."