Compassion in the face of terror
More innocent people have died in Egypt this week as a result of terrorism, and London has experienced further attempts at terrorism. It is so sad, so terrible and so cruel. I was trying to catch up on international news this morning when I came across this story in The Times (UK).
A Zimbabwean, Abisha Moyo, found himself staring directly into the face of one of the suicide bomber’s on Thursday. The man had boarded the tube and tried to detonate a bomb:
“I was on my phone and remember saying, ‘Oh my God, someone’s been shot’,” said Moyo, a business analyst from Zimbabwe. “I turned round and there was a man lying with
his arms outstretched in a Jesus Christ position, lying on top of a medium-sized black and green rucksack, face up. He had his eyes shut and there was a puff of smoke coming from his bag.”
It’s what Abisha did next that amazes and impresses me. Just two weeks earlier London had suffered it’s worst ever terrorist attack and according to friends of mine there, the city has become much more vigilant and there’s a palpable sense of watchfulness on the tube.
“I went up to him and said, ‘Are you all right, mate?’”
The man ignored him and lay there, presumably waiting for the bomb to go off, before he eventually jumped up to make good his mistake.
But I wonder what went through the mind of that suicide bomber who was so set on destroying innocent lives of people he didn’t know when one of his intended victims approached him with nothing but concern for his well-being?
I wonder what he would think if he knew that that man came from a country caught in the throes of state-sanctioned terror, a country which the rest of world has watched slowly disintegrate and done nothing substantive to stop? Where an estimated 2.5 million people have been affected by Operation Murambatsvina, a gross violation of human rights?
Would the bomber still have thought that killing this man, among others, was justifiable?
I am so proud that this Zimbabwean’s first instinct, despite his Zimbabwean and recent London experiences, was of compassion and concern for a fellow human being. That’s a good example for us all Abisha. Well done!
