Fwd.: Compassion and Revenge.

[Russ Irwin]

>This does not mean that there is an "excuse" for
>the horrible loss of lives that has occurred. It i s simply an expression of
>hope that we can use this dreadful event to bring peace, not war, into the
>world.

There is no excuse for terrorism, and indeed it must be removed from the face of the earth even (in
my opinion) if it involves war. But we must remember, no matter how hard it may be, to condem the
"act" and not the souls involved, for is it not true that all souls were made in the image of God.

Let me recount a true story here from a book I read about 10 years. The author of the book was a
young soldier during the end of WW2 when the German "death camps" were liberated. He told about the
"horror" he felt when he witnessed first hand what had been happening. He then heard about a
particular Jewish prisoner there who was held in high esteem by the other Jewish prisoners, and had
had even a grudging respect from some of his Nazi captors. This man was said to have been a sort of
a "peace maker" whenever agressions arose, and tempers flared, between the Jewish prisoners
themselves and also between the prisoners and some of the Nazi guards on many occasions.

And so he made it a point to find and meet this man. When they first met he thought that this man
must have been a new inmate because, although very thin and undernourished, he seemed to be in good
physical health. He was shocked to find out that this man had been there for 6 years. He asked how
he had remained in such good condition? The man said to him, "Back when I was first brought here the
Nazi's gunned down my entire family in front of my eyes. I knew that I had to make a decision right
then and there as to how I was going to let this affect me. It would have been so easy to hate them
with a passion, but then I had just witnessed what hate could do to people. Hate had just destroyed
everything that I had ever cared about in life. I made a decision right then and there that I would
love every human being that I ever came in contact with for the rest of my life."

The soldier was in awe of that statement. "So this is the power of love! Love (for this man) could
overcome starvation, filth, disease, torture and hate."

I have one regret myself. Shortly after I read the book I had the opportunity to meet the author in
person at a conference I was attending. It would have only involved getting up an hour earlier one
day. I chose to sleep in instead. I still regret that decision.

God bless,
Russ