hope in a distant land.....

One story that seemed to grab my attention this past weekend was the outpouring of hope for a little girl born in Iraq. She is three months old and born with a severe spinal cord defect. An innocent child represents all that is good with the world, but this one was born amidst the ugliness of a war that is so random in it's victims. You see, Noor's spinal cord was not fully closed when she was born on September 23. There is a pinkish cyst-like growth that continues to form on her back as a result of her spinal cord not forming naturally during her Mother's pregnancy. Doctors in Iraq had given her no hope of survival.

This hasn't stopped the soldiers of the 1st Battalion, 121st Infantry Regiment's Charlie Company of Georgia from trying. They have taken to adopting Noor. They were on a routine search in December looking for suspected insurgents in the area, when instead they found this beautiful baby girl born to young parents who had also accepted the defect as the will of Allah.

Most of the troops who have been deployed to this area are all young fathers themselves, and to them, Noor, was something good they could do if they could make arrangements to send her overseas to receive the necessary surgery to repair her spine. It is said that she may never be able to walk, regardless... but she may be able to live a healthier life than to be left behind in a country that is still without medical supplies or knowledge of such surgery.

To quote Moni Basu of the Atlanta Journal/ Constitution, who covered the story in Iraq:
"After seven months of grinding urban warfare, Charlie Company soldiers had found a child who reinvigorated their purpose here. Getting Noor to the United States for treatment was a mission that would help them sleep well at night--at least for a night. Someone here at Camp Liberty asked me why the US media were making such a big deal out of one baby. There are, after all, thousands of other Noors in Iraq who desperately need assistance. Their stories may never get told. Perhaps Noor's story did, not for the sake of the child, but for all the other lives she has touched in the most profound of ways. Noor, whose name in Arabic means 'light', stole our hearts and, even if for just a moment, took away the darkness in our lives".

What a beautiful story this is, and to come out of one of the world's most unlikeliest of places. We sit somewhat vigilant in front of our newscasts to hear stories of more soldiers killed, suicides bombers striking the most innocent of victims, and parents on both sides that wonder if it will all come to an end. To see a beacon of "light" shine through it, perhaps gives us reason to believe that our future depends on the generation behind us. If we can wallow through the murk and ugliness to make a future worthy of living in, perhaps we can find a way to bring some peace to an area who's ideals may differ from us, but not so much that they feel it necessary to terrorize our way of life. We, in return, can make it necessary to shed our notion that we are the "worlds police". It's a big step.

Poor Noor, she will probably never get to take the physical steps we enjoy everyday, but her story has taken a big step to setting aside differences long enough to realize that she is a miracle child. She never should have lived this long in the scope of her illness. A little prayer offered to her recovery from surgery is a prayer for all of us.