One of the Bloggers I follow has a very powerful story about the hostage crisis in Russia last week.
In the midst of all of the horror you can see that there were still decent people who were not willing to lay down and die. This is just one of many “human” stories, but I found it to be very touching.
This is just an excerpt:
“In an act of unlimited devotion and dedication, to the bitter end, an elderly teacher insisted on remaining with his students. He protected them, bandaged their wounds, and with his death, saved their lives.
Children who escaped from the school told of how they owed their lived to elderly Yanis (Ivan) Kanidis, age 74 – a man of Greek origin who worked as a gym teacher at the school. He was among the hundreds of teachers, students and parents taken hostage last week when Chechen rebels invaded the large school.
On Thursday, in what was an unusual humanitarian move in the midst of the horror, the terrorists agreed to allow a group of women and babies to leave the building. The commander of the terrorist squad, saw Kanidis — a sickly elderly man — and offered to allow him to walk free as well.
But Kanidis refused. “I will stay with my students till the end,†the teacher insisted.”
For the full story use the link at the top of this and take a moment to read it. It is worth it.
-Jack
Thanks for this. It’s a spark of light in a story that’s otherwise blacker than the darkest night.
Truly amazing. It is just awe-inspiring how far people are willing to go for people they love, or have a duty to, or are responsible for, or sometimes don’t even know.
While the world is so cruel and harsh sometimes, it is massive acts of courage and humanity like this man committed that make you realise how good and beautiful it is as well.
I only wish I can be one tiny part as brave and as good a person as he was.