Middle Eastern man sacrifices all…to be American.

I am still a 1st Responder in Life Support and Emergency Management, but recently went to work with senior citizens in my city of Dearborn Michigan as a Program Specialist. Here, I met a man from Lebanon named Samhi. I meet with him 2-3 times a week, and his story inspired me to start this thread. It is all about what we take for granted.

Samhi has had a stroke and is paralyzed on one side of his entire body, and he speaks in really broken-limited English, so for that reason, I will reply that way on his behalf here in this thread. He lives in a nice little well kept house in Dearborn’s east side. I initially asked him how many people did he live with. He replied “Just me. I live by myself”. Asking him further where he was from originally, he replied Beirut. I inquired about family members and he replied “Seven. Seven kids, and my wife”. Asking where are they now, Samhi replied “Lebanon”.

We continued small talk and I asked him when they were coming back here. “Never”, he said. “Never, come”. I was surprised as that’s not so unusual here in Dearborn. Visas, tourists, green cards etc…all normal for residents and their families coming back and forth from Iraq, Iran, Syria, Lebanon, Yeman and every other Middle Eastern country one can think of. Dearborn has as many Mosques as party stores. “What about your wife?” I asked. “Wife no come too.” “Well Samhi, when did you visit home last?” I asked him further. “Samhi looked out the window and replied “17 years. I no go home 17 years. No one in family come here either for 17 years”. This took me by surprise. The explanations surprised me even more.

“I come to this country 17 years ago and family no want to come America. I happy American, they no-want. So, I live by myself”. “Havent you visited them a couple of years or so Sam?” “No. I no go there…they no come here” he responded still looking out the window. “I no go to my city-home for 17 years. Hezbollah and terrorists. My city is no more like before”. I asked him about his wife living here and going back and forth to be with the kids now grown”. What he said stunned me. “Wife never been here. No come to America”. “She’s never been here?” I asked. “No. I buy house for them, wife and kids no come. They say “You American now. You STAY there!” I didn’t know what or how to respond. “I work restaurant everyday 17 years. No sick, no miss one day. I save all money and wait. They no come. I no go there, they no come here.” At this point, I got the gist of what he meant.

His wife and children thought it was wrong for him to come to America, the “land of the Great Satan”. Not everyone thinks this is the place to come to for freedom and liberty. In fact, Samhi‘s family thinks he sold out to leave Lebanon and come here. I guess its true not every member of every foreign born family thinks leaving their wartorn countries is the thing to do. And such is Sam’s case. Even after his stroke paralyzed him to the point of shuffling and walking slowly with a cane, they didn’t come to him. “Samhi? Did they know you were sick? That you had a stroke?” “They know. They no-care. No come. 17 years by myself. At 76 years old, I proud to be American. I American citizen now. Good for me!” His story really took me aback for a couple of days in fact. And the more I speak with him about it, the more respect I have and the better friends I’d like to think of he and I becoming.

We take for granted the freedoms we have in the parts of the civilized worlds we live in. Day to day, I think most of us forget the sacrifices our parents, grandparents and great-grandparents made to bring their families to where they can live free in a land without war on the home front. A place where we can shop pretty much where and when we want, travel where we want, raise our children as we want, live in relative peace that to them cant be found in their own countries of origin. Just like Samhi. He came, he sought a better place, a free place as compared to where he came from…a place where his children wouldn’t be afraid to walk the streets. And they turned on their father and husband for seeking that better world.

Samhi gave all for them, and in turn, they took it all back from him, leaving him alone, even after learning he was partially paralyzed with the stroke. I would think for one they’d come to help him, or it would’ve made him sell the house, pack a bag and go home to Beruit. “No!” Samhi told me. “Never. NEVER! I American now. I stay America!” And in that one statement of affirmation Samhi made to me, I understood what sacrifice was, and what a lot of our ancestors went through coming to a place where the language was different, the culture was different, the religions and politic varied, and the freedoms were wide.One could think harshly of him ignoring his family back home, or one could see how badly it was they…including his wife…of being the ones treating someone they professed to love…moreso that way than he was interpreted to have done to them.

Hatred and prejudice, just as love and longing, have their parallels. But for a father and husband to sacrifice all for family, their future and the safety in freedom he tried so hard to obtain…which he did…and then be rejected as a form of “traitor” by wife and kids…in my mind and I hope yours…is unfathomable.

So Samhi lives and limps alone, living out his days on his porch in America watching his flowers of red, pink and purple grow. “Take some flowers to your wife” he told me yesterday. I was amazed. His heart, though Im sure broken…still had a space for love…He sacrificed all, and lost all too. But he never forgot the important thing in sacrifice: Love…no matter the cost.

Mysterioustranger

a reply to: mysterioustranger

As a child of immigrant parents (Actually I'm born in the Philippines but move here in 1997 with my family) I can't stop but to feel sympathy for him.

My dad told me that when he was growing up he lived in squalor and how when he came here it was like his happiest day of his life.

My family and other relatives only came to the US due my grandpa's service in the US Army during World War 2 (For those of you who don't know, The Philippines was once a US colony) though for a while they lived at the Philippines. They only considered living in the US in around the 1990s.

a reply to: mysterioustranger

What a thought provoking OP!

It is troubling though, that a man could go all the way from the Middle East, to the United States of America, supposedly to secure a future for his children, and their children, and so on and so forth, and be cast down by them.

No matter what, a fathers first responsibility is to his family. If he was a stand up guy, they should have respected that it was his determination that the home they had known was no longer safe, and moved with him. The world is a terrible place, and although this mans dedication to his new home is heartwarming, the coldness with which he has been treated is staggering. One has to assume that either he was not a pleasant man to be related to, OR that the elements of his family which remain in Lebanon are on the fanatical end of the moderate scale, or perhaps full blown balaclava wearing maniacs. I can see no other legitimate reason to treat him so poorly.

a reply to: TrueBrit

Seems to me the more I speak with him....they have become members of the "death to America" club....especially the wife.

Unusual to because most Lebanese are wonderful people.

I get the idea the kids have been radicalized...and the wife...to me....just seems uneducated.

Still Samhi will prob die alone here....missing his family...but proud to be a free man.

Thanks from across the pond!:

a reply to: mysterioustranger

Ignorant people are dime a dozen.

I myself came from a country that was destroyed many years ago by United States foreign policy.

Do I want to go back, of course not my country is destroyed.

Do I know who destroyed my country ?

Yes indeed i do.

This thread is simplifying what is actually deep and more complex.

a reply to: RubberSky

That is a radical thought path right there .

a reply to: hutch622

Why ?

Has the truth become radical ?

Can someone send me a memo

a reply to: RubberSky

In a world run on lies, truth is always radical.

We live in interesting times.

a reply to: RubberSky

Have you embraced America or do you still have deep resentment for what they did to "your country " . Seems like your allegiances are still with your old country . In or out , it cant be both .

a reply to: hutch622

Since you are asking I might as well tell you.

In my country I was an accountant.

Now I am janitor working for a government institution. I do ok financially but I clean toilets for living.

In a way it's as if USA destroyed my country to bring me to clean their toilets. If I had to explain it in a simple way, that's the way I would explain it.

a reply to: RubberSky

In a way it's as if USA destroyed my country to bring me to clean their toilets.

Did they bring you or did you come of your own accord . If you migrated there i think you probably should have left your baggage at the border .

a reply to: hutch622

Oh I am terribly sorry.

I am sorry my country was a threat to your goals and you had to destroy it.

And I am sorry I am one of the lucky ones who managed to get a semblance of life in all that murderous chaos.

I am also sorry that I have to point out that there would be no need for me to emigrate if it wasn't for USA.

How about you? Are you at all sorry your government destroyed countless lives and families in far away lands.

Are you at least little bit sorry ?

a reply to: RubberSky

And you migrated to said country , there are plenty of countries that take refugees , but no you had to go to a place that you blame for your countries downfall . Sorry for your country , yes . Sorry for you , no , you could have gone elsewhere .

Resettlement Countries
Argentina
Finland
Portugal
Australia
France
Romania
Belgium
Germany
Spain
Brazil
Hungary
Sweden
Bulgaria
Iceland
Switzerland
Canada
Japan
United Kingdom
Chile
Netherlands
Uruguay
Czech Republic
New Zealand
United States of America
Denmark
Norway
* Source: UNHCR Global Trends 2013: War's Human Co

But no you chose America .

a reply to: RubberSky

I actually was trying to show that my thread here Was much deeper and complex.

Thanks for the agreement....MS

a reply to: hutch622

Actually for your information emigrating to most of the countries listed is very difficult, it seems USA cares very little about demographic content of the country.

Even so just because USA imports workers to do the jobs born Americans stay away from, it doesn't mean that suddenly it's okay to go around the world pillaging and destroying.

If this was year 1500, your viewpoint would be considered normal. In modern times, your viewpoint is frowned upon, seen as warmongering and violent.