RUTHFULLY YOURS

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/18464/persecution-of-christians-march

“For the entirety of March 8, social media comment columns were awash with people who, as always, condoned the murder…. Old pictures of Maria were passed around, in which she was still wearing a hijab, and people commented, ‘see, this is what happens when you leave your faith,’…. Lies and slander were spread about her, and men and women threw themselves into a contest to see who could blame her most for her murder.” — medyanews.net, March 10, 2022 – Iraq.

“[M]y father went inside the room and picked up a bottle of acid and began spraying it on us while the group started shouting, ‘Allah Akbar [Allah is the greatest], you deserve death'”… The following day, while all three family members were still hspitalized, Muslim relatives set their home ablaze. — Morning Star News, March 22, 2022 – Uganda.

A few days after a Christian man and a Muslim woman got married—and photos of their wedding in a Catholic church went viral—…the Indonesian Ulema Council the nation’s leading Islamic clerical body, declared that “the marriage of this couple is invalid and cannot be allowed.” According to Islamic law, or sharia, interfaith marriages are permissible only when the man (seen as the head of the woman and future children) is Muslim. The married couple responded by ignoring the clerics. — Union of Catholic Asian News, March 9, 2022 – Indonesia.

“Egyptian authorities have failed not only to protect Coptic Christians from repeated sectarian attacks against their communities, but also to bring those responsible for such violence to justice.” — Philip Luther, Amnesty International’s Middle East and North Africa Research and Advocacy Director, Amnesty.org, March 30, 2022 – Egypt.

The following are among the abuses Muslims inflicted on Christians throughout the month of March, 2022:

https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2022/04/zelensky_more_than_something_of_a_hero.html

Where are the heroes of today? They were present in every region, time period, culture and creed. In the distant past, Achilles, Odysseus, Hercules.  More recently, Mahatma Gandhi, Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalist, advocate of non-violent resistance; Florence Nightingale, the Lady with the Lamp; Abraham Lincoln led the nation as President and preserved during the Civil War; Nelson Mandela, anti-apartheid revolutionary and political leader, first  president  of South Africa; Winston Churchill, successful leader and Prime Minister with inspiring rhetoric of Britain during World War II. Raoul Wallenberg, Swedish diplomat who saved thousands of Jews from the Nazis in Hungary; Vaclav Havel, playwright and president of Czechoslovakia, courageous fighter for freedom.

All exemplify some of the features that characterize heroes: courage, bravery, boldness, leader of a worthy cause, personification of nobility and civilized behavior, performing acts that involve personal risks or sacrifices, no expectation of reward, inspiration to others.  

In our cancel culture era, heroes are not evident, and supposed past heroes have been toppled: Confederate generals, Christopher Columbus, Spanish Conquistadors.  The implication for the topplers is that designation of heroes is the result of social and political constructions, linked to the norms and values of a particular time. Moreover,  because of the impact of social media on opinion, the incessant stream of information and misinformation,  misgivings about the actions of officials of government and organizations, avoidance of action on issues, and perhaps the declining quality of elected representatives in democratic societies, no one individual or few are likely to remain as a hero on a pedestal for long. Thomas Jefferson, we now know, was a slave owner, and Martin Luther King, Jr., courageous fighter against segregation, discrimination, and racism, had a weakness fort beautiful women.

Of course, in everyday life, heroic deeds tend to be underrated or unappreciated. This is often the case with the teacher who helps a handicapped student, or the police officer or fire fighter who risks life to protect others. These individuals, heroes in their own way, can serve as models for teaching, good citizenship, or desirable political involvement, though not heralded.

The surprise in the last two months is the emergence of an improbable person to be the outstanding heroic figure  in the  world.  He is not the archetypal protagonist, a legendary warrior or king, or one resembling King Arthur searching for the Holy Grail, but a relatively obscure figure of modest background, inexperienced and imperfect.  He may not be an angel because angels are so few, but until the day that one comes along Volodymyr Zelensky will do.