"Eventually he felt around and the air cleared up a bit and he walked around the house and into the living room. There was a big gaping hole in the living room ceiling; the whole living room was devastated. Fortunately, he was not hurt, but that is as close to home as it gets."

Salem says he spent the summer fearing for his father, unable to concentrate on anything. He says, however, that in the midst of the country's pain, he noticed new feelings rising between religious groups. The world he uses is "love."

Instead of distinct friction between the religious factions. Salem says a nationalistic feeling began to unite the Lebanese people. He points to the unanimous election of the new President--Amir Gemayel as an indication of this unity.

"All the Lebanese can do is turn to each other. There's a growing feeling in Lebanon that, after all, we're all Lebanese, so we have to turn to build on what we do have, a common Lebanese back.... browned. [Gemayel] is a very solid Lebanese and the people recognize that it is in everybody's best interest to support and agree on something Lebanese, father than to raise the banner of this or that."

His experiences and the appointment of his father to the post of Foreign Minister have intensified Salem's hope that some day Lebanon will be able to stand on its own without the intervention of foreign forces.

"When you have gone through war for eight years and you see an opportunity to get out of it, you do whatever you can," he says. "We have a lot to build on, and we just realized it."

"It's also a very nationalistic feeling People, especially the press [in the United States], which is the only medium through which Americans can understand what the opinion is, don't really recognize that there is this turnaround in Lebanon.

"In a way they are surprised about what is going on. They don't really understand and ask. 'Why are the Lebanese getting together' Don't they see they have killed each other since 1975? Shouldn't the Moslems hate the Christians because of the massacre?'"

Salem, however, hopes that Americans will recognize that there is hope for peace in the Mideast. He said he doesn't see any immediate solutions, but for now. "All I can do is explain."