THE CONTRIBUTIONS OF IMMIGRANTS TAKE MANY FORMS

Fear by Kahlil Gibran It is said that before entering the sea a river trembles with fear. She looks back at the path she has traveled, from the peaks of the mountains, the long winding road crossing forests and villages. And in front of her, she sees an ocean so vast, that to enter there seems nothing more than to disappear forever. But there is no other way. The river can not go back. Nobody can go back. To go back is impossible in existence. The river needs to take the risk of entering the ocean because only then will fear disappear, because that's where the river will know it's not about disappearing into the ocean, but of becoming the ocean.

 Special to El Rrun-Rrun

 

During 1895, a 12-year-old child disembarked from a vessel in Boston donning tattered footwear and understanding minimal English. 

He had come from Lebanon's highlands with his mother, two sisters, and a half-brother—pursuing opportunity, not guarantee. They were impoverished, mourning, and unacquainted with this foreign territory. 

And in schoolrooms, he endured ridicule for his pronunciation, dismissed as dull, even labeled "dirty" because of his Mediterranean complexion.

Yet his instructors recognized something unique. He wasn't boisterous, but he was perceptive. He communicated not through eloquent speech, but through striking drawings and gentle insight. He quickly conquered English—and through it, began developing a voice the world would eventually acknowledge.

His identity was Kahlil Gibran.

During merely several years, Gibran buried his half-brother, his cherished sister, and his mother—sequentially, to disease. His surviving sister labored in a clothing store to sustain them both, enabling Gibran to continue his schooling. He never overlooked that devotion. He would later declare, "The most precious word on humanity's lips is the word 'Mother.'" And when he discussed love, it originated not from romance exclusively—but from grief, appreciation, and hard-earned understanding.

During 1923, Gibran released The Prophet, a compilation of poetic reflections on love, liberty, happiness, and sadness. 

It would transform into a worldwide sensation, interpreted into over 100 dialects, recited at ceremonies and memorials, and cherished by international leaders, musicians, and humble spirits equally.

Elvis Presley, John Lennon, JFK, and millions of others have discovered themselves in his writings.
He never proclaimed loudly. He composed.

"From suffering have arisen the mightiest spirits," he penned. "The most powerful personalities are marked with wounds."

And from that wounded spirit emerged magnificence that continues moving hearts a century afterward. Not terrible for a child they once deemed unwelcome.