Vital Viewing

A friend of mine is one of the producers on CBC's The Current, a radio program which has earned a stellar reputation for quality of both content and delivery. At the moment they're conducting an experiment and presenting the show online in video. Today is the 4th and last of the pilot videos of the show and I can't recommend it highly enough. Unlike so much of the fare we've grown used to, there are no side scrolling blurbs or blinking ads, there are no flashy effects, no spinning, whirling graphics. The studio is austere, the video production is simple, cutting from host to guests and back and in that simplicity there is enormous power to communicate in a manner that has largely been lost to television.

I implore you to go and witness the story of Dr. Izzeldin Abuelaish as he and his two surviving daughters share their courage in the face of horror, tragedy and loss. It has been just over a year since his home was shelled by Israeli tanks. Three of his daughters and one of their cousins were killed in the attack, another of his daughters wounded. That would be more than enough to drive most of us toward thoughts of vengeance and hatred. This is by no means the first or only cause that Dr. Abuelaish might have to pursue a path of anger and reprisal. Yet this man still finds the strength to seek peace. He and his daughters are currently in Canada. Dr. Abuelaish has written a book detailing his story and his hope not only for his own family and people but for the all of the people of the region, I Shall Not Hate.

Some would have us believe that the four girls killed in his home were somehow human shields, that he and his people were somehow brutal and uniform thugs, united in savagery. Allow those lies to be put to rest by this man and by his daughters, by their obvious anguish and their refusal of violence.