For Ed and Paula Kassig of Indiana, service is a vital
aspect of life. The Indianapolis couple works closely to serve others and is
constantly finding ways to spread hope around in others’ times of despair.
However, they were in need of hope, love, and attention this past Sunday when
the news broke that their only son, Abdul-Rahmann (Peter) Kassig had been
brutally murdered by barbarians after a torturous year of captivity.
Abdul-Rahman had been a US Army Ranger and served in Iraq;
he was noted for his strong desire to continue helping others after he finished
his obligations to the military. He converted to Islam and changed his name
from Peter to Abdul-Rahman. By 2012, he took on the job as being a US aid
worker in Syria. Giving all he had, he spent two years working alongside social
workers to serve others, just as his parents has taught him. He helped care for
refugees and provided immediate attention for those in need. While travelling
to eastern Syria in 2013 to take on a project for Special Emergency Response
and Assistance (SERA) organization, he was captured by ISIS “thugs”, as the
former exiled leader of Syria’s opposition coalition, Hadi al-Bahra, stated.
Kassig endured a year of hard torture, evil, and came to
know the painful power behind ISIS. In a letter smuggled from prison, he wrote
home to his parents, informing them he would be “going” soon. “…your love and
patience are things I am deeply grateful for”, he told them. Somehow,
Abdul-Rahman knew he would be killed soon. Early Sunday morning, the wait for
the Kassig family regarding their son’s status was over. For nearly a year,
former hostages had educated the Kassig family that their son would most likely
experience water-boarding, starvation, and forced to watch other men die. The
Kassig family didn’t need former hostage’s word to know what their son was
being familiarized with each day. In August, the Islamic state released a video
beheading a British journalist. On October 3rd, they released
another. However, this video directly threatened the Kassig’s son’s life. And
now, Abdul-Rahman has been killed.
Analysis: I think this is an extremely accurate reflection
on the ongoing conflicts in the Middle East that date back to as early as the
Second World War. Our involvement with countries that have rebelled, such as
Syria, have brought out the worst and the best of our foreign relations. So, do
you think that we have such foreign ties to the point where we allow Americans
to go into the rebelling countries for service? Should we have obeyed George
Washington when he urged us not to engage in foreign affairs?
Courtesy of BBC News http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-30073602
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