King Hussein of Jordan. Posted by John on February 05, 1999 at 13:20:01:
There are certain figures who arise from time to time in public life who
seem to be cut out to be the peacemakers. These are remarkably loving
people that we get to know in the news, but only rarely do they appear.
King Hussein is one of these, and I am filled with sadness to know that
he is only barely clinging to life today in Amman.
As a Muslim boy, he witnessed his father being assassinated by
Palestinian terrorists at a holy mosque, and soon after that he became
King. Today, more than a million-and-a-half Palestinian refugees dwell
at peace in his kingdom. He has grown up to be a friend to all.
There are some of these human people we see in the news who are the
yielders, those who can stop the aggression, the pay-backs, the revenge,
stop the killing, and give love and caring back, instead. King Hussein
was one of these. He was no wimp! He was a jet fighter pilot, and he
led his own Jordanese troops in war when he *had to*. He was the only
neighbor, apparently, who could get along with Saddham Hussein in Iraq.
Nobody pushed King Hussein around. Yet he was always willing,
throughout his life, to assert his loving presence into every
opportunity for encouraging peace in the middle East.
Like Princess Diana, Linda McCartney, and Mother Theresa--three other
famous people that we've know of, and lost recently, who *loved* as
their chief way of being in the world--I think the King of Jordan has
been one of the world's most beloved people. To know him is to love
him, as they say.
I remember when one of his own troops killed an Israeli girl with a
rifle at the border. Hussein went, in person, to grieve with that poor
girl's family in Israel. It was a kind of gesture that was *unheard of*
in the Arab world. Wherever he went, by this assertive-yielding that he
knew so well how to do, King Hussein communicated a lightening-bolt with
the boldness and the trueness of his love.
And now, that lightning bolt of love is getting dim.
My heart area and throat are filled now with the tensions and inner
sensations of sadness, and I feel my eyes have tears. Lost love again.
Hats off for him, Class, please. He's been a good man.
Coach
Archived 22 Mar 99