Sayyed Ali Fadlallah visited Imam Al-Jawad (PBUH) Secondary School in the Bekaa town of Ali Al-Nahri, where he was received by the school's principal Hajjeh Souad Marah and members of the teaching staff
He toured the school and saw the students' activities and their varied work, expressing his pride in and appreciation for their efforts and for all the creativity they offer…
The visit began with a tour of the environmental and science exhibition of the second cycle, which included many activities on growing flowers and explanations of some scientific equations and experiments.
The first art symposium was then opened, prepared by secondary-level students through their distinctive paintings expressing their talents and embodying their mature view of human and social issues. This was followed by a display of varied educational, scientific and cultural activities by students of the second and third cycles.
His Eminence then moved to the school theatre, where the students received him to the strains of the national anthem and the anthem “We Are the Children of Al-Jawad”, and presented purposeful artistic, dramatic and rhythmic performances. He then delivered a speech in which he began by expressing his happiness at this fraternal gathering, noting that “on every visit we find creativity and distinction among the students, and this is what we have come to expect of you. We have every confidence in the abilities and capacities that qualify you to excel in various fields”.
He thanked the school's administration for its mission-driven efforts in encouraging its students to be creative and distinguished and to be a bright image in this country and a landmark within it. It has striven and worked for Al-Jawad Secondary School to be among the distinguished and leading schools in the educational and academic field, not only at the level of this country but at the level of the region.
His Eminence also thanked the teaching and administrative staff at the school for their dedication in their work and for devoting all their time to serving this institution and seeking its development and distinction…
His Eminence expressed his pride in the students of this school, who use all their time in activities that develop their abilities and enrich their thinking through their efforts to restore the book's role in the advancement and development of society and in spreading awareness within it, and through encouraging them to spread a culture of loving reading in the face of a culture of backwardness and ignorance.
His Eminence noted that a nation is built only through this spirit: the spirit of responsibility and of spreading a culture of knowledge and awareness that creates creativity and distinction. He affirmed that moral, faith-based and human values have become a goal you seek to achieve, and so your responsibility lies in being a landmark in building this nation at every level. If we suffer from negatives or from fanaticism here or there, we must be keen to bury them and to offer a new experience founded on love, openness and dialogue.
His Eminence spoke about how Al-Mabarrat has taken upon itself the task of developing talent and building this generation's capacities, saying that reading is an essential element in nourishing the spirit, in the process of education, in increasing a person's knowledge, in helping to refine their character and in their progress along the path of creativity and distinction.
His Eminence added: Our problem in this East is that we have become addicted to consumption and accustomed to killing and wasting time on marginal matters, while we find that other nations have worked to make use of it by drawing on the time, energies and resources they possess. We have become a market for consumption instead of being effective and productive in this world, despite all the wealth we possess, after having been the nation that enriched this universe and contributed much of the knowledge from which all humanity has benefited.
He pointed out that reading is a method for knowing the truth. It contributes to the intellectual, academic and social construction of nations, stimulates the mind and drives it to acquire new tools that help it distinguish truth from falsehood, in addition to strengthening skills. It is also a means of education that prevents others from manipulating our minds and emotions, since it broadens our thinking, dispels every element of ignorance, and is among the strongest weapons against backwardness.
His Eminence concluded by calling for strengthening a culture of reading in our societies, because it helps fortify society and makes us better able to face all the pressures, challenges and schemes drawn up for us. He urged the students to work at documenting their experiences, observations and ideas by writing them down.
In conclusion, he cut the ribbon opening the book fair, whose titles were varied so as to be a space of thought and culture for all visitors. The students received him with a zajal segment and presented before him some of the stories they had written, as a fruitful beginning in the journey of their future writing.
