Wednesday December 14, 2016
The White Helmets of hope
Around Christmas in North America, children (and many adults) hang their hopes on a man with a white beard.
In the war-torn Middle East, they’re more likely to hang their hopes on men in white helmets.
The White Helmets are standard construction-worker hard hats. The men need those helmets, because they go into places where no North American construction worker would venture. Into shattered buildings, where concrete block walls teeter. Where floors have collapsed, trapping victims beneath tons of rubble. Where snipers’ bullets fly, and unexploded bombs await the unwary.
In Syria, the White Helmets – officially the Syrian Defence Force -- have saved at least 70,000 lives, and probably many more.
An Avaaz mailing declares, “These heroes are just ordinary people — bakers, teachers, tailors — who felt they couldn't stand by, and threw themselves right into the line of fire. For their bravery, they were nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize, and the $1 million of critical funding it comes with — but they lost!”
The Peace Prize, in case you’re wondering, went to Juan Manuel Santos, President of Colombia in South America, “for his resolute efforts to bring the country’s more than 50-year-long civil war to an end.”
Fair enough – the Syrian civil war has lasted only six years. But I’d submit that the devastation in Syria has far exceeded the drug wars in Colombia.
The UN calls the city of Allepo “one giant graveyard.” At least two national governments – Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime and Russia – bomb it from the air, fire missiles at it from the ground, and have prevented aid from reaching it.
Both regimes actively target the White Helmets. Their planes bomb, then circle back to bomb the same sites again to catch the White Helmets when they arrive to rescue victims.
The White Helmets don’t belong to any international organization. They have no international ties, no international sponsors. They are 100 per cent volunteers. They’re predominantly Muslim, inspired by a verse in the Quran that says, “to save a life is to save all of humanity.”
They have become known largely through the work of filmmakers Joanna Natasegara and Orlando von Einsiedel, whose Netflix documentary, the White Helmets, provides a firsthand look into the organization’s work.
“Some of them are students, some of them are professionals,” says Natasegara, i interviewed in Atlantic magazine. “Lots of them are blue-collar workers who just want to be involved in something that’s positive.”
Adds von Einsiedel, “These guys all made this decision not to flee Syria, not to pick up a gun, and instead to every day risk their lives to save others. It’s quite an extraordinary decision they’ve all made.”
The White Helmets also provide limited medical care, and help to restore infrastructure services. And they bury the dead, “giving some dignity,” in Natasegara’s words, “to those who lose their lives needlessly.”
Two years ago, the white Helmets gained brief international publicity when they saved a ten-day-old baby, buried in rubble for over 12 hours. His rescuer, Omar Harrah, a painter and decorator before he joined the White Helmets, put his head on a slab of fallen concrete for a rest, and heard a baby’s wail, somewhere below him.
Tragically, Harrah himself was killed later. About 150 White Helmets have sacrificed their lives to save others.
“If I die saving lives,” Harrah is reported as saying, “I think God would consider me a martyr.”
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Copyright © 2016 by Jim Taylor. Non-profit use in congregations and study groups, and links from other blogs, welcomed; all other rights reserved.
To comment on this column, write jimt@quixotic.ca
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YOUR TURN
Last week’s column, about treating trees as something more than resources, brought some varied responses.
Isabel Gibson for example, wrote, “On a recent trip to Vancouver, I saw a chain of folks who could have passed for 1960s hippies wrapped around a large redwood tree at Spanish Banks beach. So some folks do treat them sacramentally…”
And Cliff Boldt responded, “I am appreciating every breath much more after reading this.”
Ivan Gamble said that my column “reminded me of the short poem;
‘Who has seen the wind,
Neither you nor I.
But when the trees bow down their heads,
The Wind is passing by’.”
A bit of searching found the author: Christina Georgina Rossetti, 1830-1894, This is the second half of her poem.
Chris Duxbury agreed with my feelings about Christmas trees: “When we were first married we started off with a small pot that had a Christmas tree growing in it. Each year we would bring it into the house and then we would take it back outside after Christmas. When it got too big we planted it.
"Nowadays we just use the same artificial tree that we have been using for years. Why? Because I think trees are better left to grow.”
But Ted Wilson didn’t: “Those ‘11 trees still alive today’ because you have an artificial tree don’t exist. If the Christmas tree farmer can’t sell them he/she doesn’t plant them. All you have done is prevent their existence. If they cannot grow Christmas trees economically the land gets used for something else -- grazing cattle, building houses on, an auto wreaking lot perhaps?”
Ted went on to define what he called the “Consumption Chain”: “Every living thing consumes something to exist, even you, and me. If you stopped causing the death of absolutely any life form, you would starve or perhaps die of an infection. Cold germs and flu viruses are life forms too. The coleslaw you had for supper last night killed cabbages and who knows what else. The toast you had for breakfast killed chickens, grain, yeast, the list goes on and on. Was your house built using no wood? We are a part of the Consumption Chain, hopefully near the top, but we all die. If it’s from disease, that life form killed us to survive."
Margaret Carr recalled a special Christmas tree: “Your words reminded me of one year we planned to go to BC and spend Christmas with our daughter and family. I wanted a Christmas tree [anyway]. My late husband disagreed but finally said he would get me a tree. He returned with a bare poplar thinking he had got the best of me. I thought I would show him and so I decorated the ‘Charlie Brown’ tree with lights and ornaments. It was one of the nicest trees we ever had – sort of fairy-like and delicate, and one to remember.”
Margaret continued, on another subject: “I also agree with Judy Lochhead's letter. My heart aches because of the way My Church (UCC) has treated Gretta Vosper. Can we not listen and learn from her and others who want to reform the Bible’s teachings to reflect 2016 understanding? What are they afraid of? Or do they need a God they fear and not a God of Love? Think how the world has changed -- can we not change with it? I don't think there is a ‘Guy in the sky’ but I do believe in God and feel he is inside all of us whether we know it or not. Jesus said, ‘The Kingdom of God is within you.’ So I try to live that way.”
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PSALM PARAPHRASES
If plants had feelings, how might they feel when that first frost hits? Perhaps their experience could help us weather the winters of our discontent. Here’s a paraphrase of Psalm 80:
1 Listen to me, God.
You are warm, while you leave us to freeze!
2 Stir yourself to save us.
Shine some light into our darkness;
Send some warmth our way!
3 Bring back the sun;
Give us a chance to live again!
4 Are you angry with us?
We cannot survive winter on our own.
5 Bitter blasts come down out of the north.
Frost burns our faces.
6 We hang our heads in shame;
We wilt away.
7 Bring us back to life again, God.
17 Let the sun warm the earth again,
so that our stems can grow tall and straight,
and our blossoms lift their faces to the sky.
18 Take away this winter of our discontent, Lord,
and we will not let you down.
Give us life, and we will give you glory.
19 Send spring quickly, O creator.
Let your garden grow again!
For paraphrases of most of the psalms used by the Revised Common Lectionary, you can order my book Everyday Psalms from Wood Lake Publishing, info@woodlake.com.
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YOU SCRATCH MY BACK…
• Ralph Milton has a new project, called Sing Hallelujah -- the world’s first video hymnal. It consists of 100 popular hymns, both new and old, on five DVDs that can be played using a standard DVD player and TV screen, for use in congregations who lack skilled musicians to play piano or organ. More details at www.singhallelujah.ca
• Isabel Gibson's thoughtful and well-written blog, www.traditionaliconoclast.com
• Wayne Irwin's "Churchweb Canada," an inexpensive service for any congregation wanting to develop a web presence, with free consultation. <http://www.churchwebcanada.ca>
• Alva Wood's satiric stories about incompetent bureaucrats and prejudiced attitudes in a small town are not particularly religious, but they are fun; write alvawood@gmail.com to get onto her mailing list.
• Tom Watson writes a weekly blog called “The View from Grandpa Tom’s Balcony” – ruminations on various subjects, and feedback from Tom’s readers. Write him at twatson@sentex.net
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TECHNICAL STUFF
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