Christmas: Restoring Faith in Humankind

I was in the process of writing today’s blog entitled Mampara of the Year when I came across a feel-good story on the internet. I then changed my focus. Whereas I could easily write the article on the Mampara without even using the Internet, an article on good news stories, especially those that would resonate with me, would be a far harder task.

Many of these did – I admit – bring a tear to my eye. Imagine a world without caring people such as these. Human kindness is a virtue to be celebrated yet none of these people performed these acts of kindness for monetary or other reward. Instead the reward was visceral, an internal recompense.

The story that really touched me was this one. It happened in 2006 when insurgents killed his two year old girl’s parent. She was also shot in head but the wound was not serious. As the nursing staff were unable to pacify the bewildered youngster, Master Sgt. John Gebhardt scooped her up and slept with her cradled in his arms that night. The most frequently asked question is what happened to this infant.

The short answer is that nobody actually knows. What is known though is that ultimately a family member who they think was an uncle claimed her. When questioned about his selfless deed, Gebhardt retorts, “The photo was just a small example of acts of compassion that went on over there every day, every hour.”