Jawdat Haydar and AUB

On the 6th of December 2010, the Friends of Jawdat Haydar organized a
series of events in memory of the fourth anniversary of his passing. More than
600 personalities gathered at John Paul II Hall at the Holy Spirit University of
Kaslik (USEK). The following two speeches were delivered by representatives
from AUB and USEK.

 

Patrick McGreevy Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences )American University of Beirut(Jawdat Haydar

and

AUB

 

 

President Mahfouz, honored guests from Lebanon and beyond: It is my pleasure to represent the American University of Beirut at this commemoration of the 4th anniversary of the death of Jawdat Haydar. We are proud to count him among our alumni, although when he arrived at our institution it was not called AUB but Syrian Protestant College, a name that reminds us that Lebanon did not exist as an independent country at that time either. He lived to see many things change.

Haydar’s poetry reveals a deep attachment to Lebanon, its landscape, its history, its people. But he was also a man who moved freely across the world. Some people have said that AUB is a place where East and West meet and reshape each other. One might say the same about the life and mind of Jawdat Haydar. But it would be better to reject such categories altogether, to reject the division of the world according to directions, religions, languages, or any other category of difference, and to say with Jawdat Haydar: "I have no boundaries!"

Perhaps because he lived through so many changes, perhaps because he had such a deep sense of history, he was keenly aware of how ultimately fragile are all political regimes. The individual human life, even a long one like that of Jawdat Haydar, is also a very brief affair. But his words, and the words of many others like him who tried to see things from a larger perspective, remain with us. Whether that larger perspective endures is now up to us.

Jawdat Haydar and AUB

On the 6th of December 2010, the Friends of Jawdat Haydar organized a
series of events in memory of the fourth anniversary of his passing. More than
600 personalities gathered at John Paul II Hall at the Holy Spirit University of
Kaslik (USEK). The following two speeches were delivered by representatives
from AUB and USEK.

 

Patrick McGreevy Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences )American University of Beirut(Jawdat Haydar

and

AUB

 

 

President Mahfouz, honored guests from Lebanon and beyond: It is my pleasure to represent the American University of Beirut at this commemoration of the 4th anniversary of the death of Jawdat Haydar. We are proud to count him among our alumni, although when he arrived at our institution it was not called AUB but Syrian Protestant College, a name that reminds us that Lebanon did not exist as an independent country at that time either. He lived to see many things change.

Haydar’s poetry reveals a deep attachment to Lebanon, its landscape, its history, its people. But he was also a man who moved freely across the world. Some people have said that AUB is a place where East and West meet and reshape each other. One might say the same about the life and mind of Jawdat Haydar. But it would be better to reject such categories altogether, to reject the division of the world according to directions, religions, languages, or any other category of difference, and to say with Jawdat Haydar: "I have no boundaries!"

Perhaps because he lived through so many changes, perhaps because he had such a deep sense of history, he was keenly aware of how ultimately fragile are all political regimes. The individual human life, even a long one like that of Jawdat Haydar, is also a very brief affair. But his words, and the words of many others like him who tried to see things from a larger perspective, remain with us. Whether that larger perspective endures is now up to us.

Jawdat Haydar and AUB

On the 6th of December 2010, the Friends of Jawdat Haydar organized a
series of events in memory of the fourth anniversary of his passing. More than
600 personalities gathered at John Paul II Hall at the Holy Spirit University of
Kaslik (USEK). The following two speeches were delivered by representatives
from AUB and USEK.

 

Patrick McGreevy Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences )American University of Beirut(Jawdat Haydar

and

AUB

 

 

President Mahfouz, honored guests from Lebanon and beyond: It is my pleasure to represent the American University of Beirut at this commemoration of the 4th anniversary of the death of Jawdat Haydar. We are proud to count him among our alumni, although when he arrived at our institution it was not called AUB but Syrian Protestant College, a name that reminds us that Lebanon did not exist as an independent country at that time either. He lived to see many things change.

Haydar’s poetry reveals a deep attachment to Lebanon, its landscape, its history, its people. But he was also a man who moved freely across the world. Some people have said that AUB is a place where East and West meet and reshape each other. One might say the same about the life and mind of Jawdat Haydar. But it would be better to reject such categories altogether, to reject the division of the world according to directions, religions, languages, or any other category of difference, and to say with Jawdat Haydar: "I have no boundaries!"

Perhaps because he lived through so many changes, perhaps because he had such a deep sense of history, he was keenly aware of how ultimately fragile are all political regimes. The individual human life, even a long one like that of Jawdat Haydar, is also a very brief affair. But his words, and the words of many others like him who tried to see things from a larger perspective, remain with us. Whether that larger perspective endures is now up to us.