A Protestant mother. A Shiite son. A plea for vengeance on his killers.
But unlike many responses to political martyrdoms in Lebanese history, she yields it to God.
Last month in the Hezbollah-controlled south of Lebanon, unknown gunmen shot Lokman Slim in the head. It was a targeted assassination of a man dedicated to the hope that his small Middle Eastern nation might overcome sectarian divisions.
He was his mother’s son.
“I will not go and kill them, but ask God to avenge him,” said the grieving 80-year-old, Selma Merchak. “This comes from my faith in God as the great authority.”