Meet my friend, Laima, a survivor from the Beslan terror attack
By Jason Catizone, Special to ASSIST News Service
More
than 1,100 men, women, and children were held hostage during the Beslan
terrorist attack, and more than 330 people -- mostly children -- lost
their lives. Miraculously, Laima was one of those who survived.
But
as a child trying to deal with the horror of what she experienced,
after the terrorist attack Laima would draw pictures of the terrorists,
and then light them on fire -- in an attempt to try and get vengeance
upon them for how they had hurt so many children.
Laima
is an inspiration to me, and I’m grateful to The Lord for His hearing
the prayers that I and my friends have prayed for her and the people of
Beslan over the years. It is beautiful to see her progress and growth!
If you would like to share any words, thoughts, or well wishes with Laima, please email them to me at jalazone7@netscape.net
Now here is what she has written:
“Why should I live?”
By Laima Torchinova
Finding a cross under my feet in the gym, I immediately felt His Presence: the Almighty is with me -- He will help me.
Life
was divided into Before, and After. And I can say with certainty that
what happened to me opened my eyes. Life is the very best thing that
could happen to us! It is so sad that a person needs to be a hair’s
breadth from death in order to understand why they live.
I
often see people who fall into depression because of every little
thing… people who want to end their lives by suicide. I so want to go up
to them, shake them by the shoulders, take them to the “City of Angels”
(this is the name of the Beslan cemetery in which most of the victims
were buried), and say: “That's what universal grief means, for which people are shedding tears for the second decade! Everything else is nothing; dust!”
I am grateful to the Lord for saving my life.
I’m
grateful for the fact that above my head, there is a peaceful sky --
and that in my glass, there is always cold water. (Many of us hostages
were dying of thirst as the terrorists refused to give us water.)
The exclamation mark in the sentence, “Never give up living!” is something I already put there a long time ago.
Photo
captions: 1) Agony on the face on a boy rescued from terror attack. 2) A
woman stands at the “City of Angels” memorial cemetery in Beslan, the
final resting place for the victims of the terrorist attack at Beslan's
School No.1. (Photo: CFP). 3) Jason with Laima in 2007. 4) A woman
brings flowers at a memorial in School No.1 to mourn the victims of the
2004 Beslan school siege. (Photo: CFP). 5) Jason with Laima last year.
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