Thursday, January 28, 2016

Syrian War: An Open Letter to Father Paolo Dall'Oglio






Father Paolo Dall'Oglio is an Italian Jesuit priest who had worked in Syria and was kidnapped by ISIL last July 29, 2013. A recipient of the Peace Prize from the Italian place of Lombardy for his extraordinary work in peacebuilding, Father Paolo was a fierce advocate for peaceful democratic change in Syria. His fate in the hands of ISIL has never been definitively determined.

Following is an Open Letter by Marie Peltier addressed to Father Paolo. The letter, courtesy of Revolucion Syrienne en Francais, is a translation from French.  Father Paolo's photo is courtesy of Wikipedia.


Letter To Paolo - Marie Peltier



This 29 January, it will be exactly 2 YEARS AND 6 months since Paolo was abducted at Raqqa.


We've been looking for you all this time.


For 2 and a half years, we've been looking for you.


Behind the words, in the meetings, near and far, everywhere, in the night, the day and in the morning buffeted by the wind, everywhere, everywhere, in French, Arabic, English, Italian. We'll track down by our images, we pray, we mourn, we write, we speak, we are silent, we have despaired, we hope, we search without end, and we've been looking for you again.


There is nothing between us and you, nothing that we can recognize, tame, love, hate, There is nothing between you and us. There isn't anyone or anything. And nothing is a long time to explore.


And we no longer want to explore, and we're tired, and we throw in the towel. Yet we know, he'll come back, we get hit in the stomach, in the face or in our hands. We throw in the towel and he comes back.


It all comes back all the time, you, your laugh, your voice, your unwelcome presence, your affection, your anger, your sermons, your singing.


You come back all the time.


But you don't come back.


You we're looking for, maybe all the time you too. You we're looking for, maybe, and we don't come back.


But we go back all the time.


2 YEARS AND 6 months that we are looking for and that we'll be back, but we don't come back.


~~
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