Post from Syria

A friend who works with refugees in Syria wrote recently that seven hundred refugees had been abducted by ISIL to be used as human shields as ISIL flees Assad’s forces.

Last week he wrote:

“Dearest friends.....

“This is my 7th attempt to make this post. My first 6 attempts took me to a screen that wanted me to prove that I am not a "robot." I followed the given instructions each time to no avail. All that I know to do now is to change some key words in the post. I have some of the smartest friends on the planet and I am certain that you will be able to read between the lines...

“I want to be as clear as I possibly can about the abductees that a certain well known "state" in this part of the world have captured. I talked about this briefly on my post of -- October. Many of the abductees are internally displaced families. The aforementioned "state" went into an encampment for internally displaced citizens who were forced to flee their homes due to this war. We've been advised that the aforementioned "state" is currently actively seeking more refugees to abduct. This act took place in broad daylight within seeing distance of deployed military members from the country that *we* live in while no action was taken to thwart this horrible crime against humanity. Not one damn thing. Ask yourself why that would be. No matter where you stand politically, in your heart you know the answer to that query........

“We've been advised to relocate yet again. This will be the 4th time that we've had to completely pull up stakes and move the war weary internally displaced people that we reside among. I want for you all to know that our kids have been in hiding since Monday. There's no other choice on the matter right now. We're old men but these children are the future here. The only difference in all of these good people and anyone reading this is geography. That's all. They want the same things out of life that we all want.......

“Perhaps soon the occupant will get his lips off of Putin's ass for long enough to address the issue of why we watched this take place and took no action. I mean, I know he's really really busy defending and giving the "benefit of the doubt" to MbS and the Kingdom. As I said earlier, I have highly intelligent friends. We *all* know what happened to Khashoggi. We *all* know why it happened. We *all* know the Kingdom is directly responsible. This may seem like a political post but it's not. This really isn't about politics. This is about morality.......

“Let me be very direct for a moment here. I don't need for one damn person to tell me what you read about the over 700 abductees here where I've been for the last 22 months. I'm telling you what I know. Take it or leave it. I'm trying to be cautious with my statement. Though to be perfectly honest with you, this is far too important to let go without me divulging the truth. Just in case. Understand this......there are many things worth living for and there are only a few things worth dying for. A man who is too afraid to die is too afraid to live......

“I have no idea when I will be able to update again. Know that I truly do love each and every one of you and I carry you *all* in my heart every day. Please, all of you take care of each other.....

“Love to all and steady on we go.......

“There's all that hate out in the world and then there is this sunrise as we leave our little camp for the last time for now.....”

There ends the post.

How are you doing at reading between the lines?

Anne Lamott writes that we must not let hate make us into poisoned vessels. She’s right. Hate corrodes the vessel that contains it. As my friend in Syria says, there’s all this hate in the world, and then there are refugee children playing soccer in the rubble, planning to grow up to be doctors, and lawyers, and teachers. He and his colleagues work to keep these children alive, because they are the hope of their country, their culture, and their families.

You know – same as our children are for us.