I am an AUSTRALIAN Lebanese

( The "comments" that I am referring to in the paragraphs below are found in the comments section under my poem "Soundless Domination" )

It has taken me a few days to reply to the comment made above....
I walked through many emotions and even wrote a long reply which I was planning to happily send but......
I accidently deleted it.
All I have decided to say is ...
I am a very proud Australian.
Lebanon is a country where "the soil has never felt [my] tread".
Where my memories have only been painted by pictures and stories of its beauty.
In my homeland, Australia, my memories do not have to be painted.
I touch them,
I smell them and I live them.
I would also like to make a correction to part of the 'anonymous writers' statement.
Both my parents were not born in Lebanon.
My Father is a son of Lebanon (even though he has been a proud citizen of Australia for nearly thirty years), but my Mother and her Mother are both daughters of Australia...... technically that would make me a third generation Australian.
In additon, why can I not have a claim to this country?
It was built not just on the backbone of the white race, but on the back bone of my forebearers.

The comment above also shows concerns about me being ashamed of my Lebanese heritage.
To set the 'anonymous writers' mind at ease,
I will never be ashamed of the land or culture of my ancestors.
Lebanon will always be in my blood but it is in the blood of my past,
Australia is in the blood of my future.
As the 'anonymous writer' would know,
I have been brought up in a very respectable family that have upheld their lebanese traditions and values while respecting and amalgamating the traditions of the land in which they chose to migrate to.
On the whole, I will apologise if I was unintentionally evasive.
In future I will be more politically correct and state that I am an "AUSTRALIAN Lebanese" Thank You