My boss was just a few years older than me, but had grown up Muslim in Beirut. He attended high school run by Catholic Salesian fathers, and their enrollment reflected the famous diversity of the city, where I heard there are 18 or 19 official languages, or is it religions? Anyway, his campus was bombed and under mortar attack by Islamic forces during the 1970s Civil War. His family had to emigrate, like so many from Lebanon. It’s important we hear such stories of both cooperation, for he still keeps in touch with the Italian priests he loved and learned from, who themselves had to flee Lebanon. We see how the Near East continues to force many away at the price of their survival exchanged for the loss of their culture, ancient heritage, family ties, languages, and cherished loves.