Happy Summer!
Although it may not feel like it the whole way through, the season of sun officially begins this month. June is the host month for backyard barbecues and lazy days at the beach, and I for one can’t wait!
June is also the month we celebrate Father’s Day, some with time-honored traditions like homemade cards and new neckties. As patriarchs, fathers are so essential for a happy and well-adjusted family. Good fathers lead their loved ones on a straight moral path by example and deed; great fathers inspire us to model our behavior on their own. My father was a great man who raised 9 children to be generous and kind; he was genuinely in love with my mother for their entire 57 years of married life and pined for her for almost 3 years after her death. Daddy wrote beautiful poetry and raised his daughters to stand up for themselves. He was a stalwart, a sermon, and a song. I miss him dearly.
As we head to the beaches and lakes this summer, it is a good thing to remember to practice water safety. Thirty seconds can truly change a life, for better or worse. We can take all the precautions in the world but knowing CPR is a must, as Dr. Jennifer Burlingame reminds us in her guest column.
Travel is a topic for the summer months as well, and we have a guest column on traveling in Jerusalem from Christina Salem. She was part of a Gishru trip to Iraq, and then went on to Israel, sharing her experience with our readers. We also feature the second part of Dr. Miri’s travel reflections in “Back to Iraq: Part II,” in which he shares stories of his recent trip back to the homeland.
Other contributions from our esteemed historian this month include an article on the history of worry beads, related to the rosary but not quite the same. Worry beads have a prominent place in many Middle Eastern cultures and Dr. Miri explains their significance in an informative yet humorous way.
Another subject about which he writes, not so humorously, is the water shortage in Iraq. Real climate changes are affecting our planet, and Iraq is among the 5 countries most severely ravaged by the crisis. Once known as “the land between two rivers,” what happens to the land when the rivers run dry? Dr. Miri looks at the root causes, what we as humans have done to aggravate the problem, and what some possible solutions might be. Hint: we have to work together.
New world environs bring new world stressors, and the things we are doing to cope may be hurting rather than helping. We cover that in our health and wellness section and tell you the number one thing you can do to combat stress. Spoiler alert: it involves action.
Chaldeans entering the political arena is something we are very much in support of, and CN’s Cal Abbo profiles Northville Township Supervisor Mark Abbo (yes, they are not-too-distantly related) in this month’s issue.
We also continue our coverage of Chaldean Cold Cases; open police cases where store owners have been murdered and their killers are still at large. Our hope is that something will come of these articles and some sort of justice may be served. These families deserve that.
Also continuing is our “From the Archives” section, this month focusing on the Chaldean Soccer League. It is so much fun to look back on these precious memories from decades past.
Enjoy!
Sarah Kittle, Editor