2006/03/12

We Must Find the Words


The photo in this post shows a small boy, detained with his father by our American Armed Forces. If you and your son were forced to endure this sort of emotional torment, how would YOU react to the invaders?

Multiply this scene by a thousand, perhaps by hundreds of thousands, and you will begin to understand why most of the residents of Iraq do not entirely love their "guests".

I do understand. My grandmother, mother, and I endured similar torments during the Soviet and Polish occupation of my German hometown from 1945 to 1947.

In the last posting before his death, Tom Fox quoted an Islamic cleric, who tried to explain the gut-wrenching torment of the innocent civilians of that devastated city: "The ongoing difficulties faced by Fallujans are so great that words fail to properly express it". Nevertheless, we must try to find the appropriate words, though they fall pitifully short of the emotions from which they spring.

In his weblog Tom had written: "I am to stand firm against the kidnapper as I am to stand firm against the soldier."....."If Jesus and Ghandi were right, then I am asked to risk my life, and if I lose it, to be as forgiving as they, when murdered by the forces of Satan."

Tom's body was found concealed in a garbage bag, in a vacant lot near the West Baghdad railway line. The many scars on his back gave ample evidence of severe beatings. His hands had been tied, and there were numerous gunshot wounds at his head and chest. Which side of this dehumanizing conflict gained from his death?Please CLICK HERE to visit those who supported this humble ambassador of Christ.