9/11 Hate-Crime Victim Seeks To Save His Attacker
+4
BK-201
Belsfir
Severus
SkepticalDragon
8 posters
Page 1 of 1
9/11 Hate-Crime Victim Seeks To Save His Attacker
For those too bothered to read the NPR site has an audio you can listen to from their radio broadcast.9/11 Hate-Crime Victim Seeks To Save His Attacker - NPR
Just 10 days after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, Rais Bhuiyan was working at a gas station in Dallas when he was shot in the face by a man named Mark Stroman.
Stroman was on a shooting spree, targeting people who appeared to be Muslim or of Middle Eastern descent. Stroman is due to be executed July 20; Bhuiyan, the only survivor of the attacks, is fighting to save his life.
When Stroman entered the gas station, Bhuiyan initially thought it was a routine robbery.
"I opened the cash register, offered him the cash, and requested him not to shoot me," Bhuiyan tells weekends on All Things Considered host Laura Sullivan. "In reply he asked me, 'Where are you from?' And the question seemed strange to ask during a robbery. And I said, 'Excuse me?' And as soon as I spoke, I felt the sensation of a million bees stinging my face, and then heard an explosion."
Bhuiyan required medical attention for years after the attack. The bullet hit him on the right side of the face, leaving severe injuries, particularly to his right eye.
"I had to go through several surgeries and finally the doctor could save the eye, but the vision is gone, and I'm still carrying more than 35 pellets on the right side of my face," he says. "Once I touch my face, my skull, I can feel it's all bumpy. It took several years to go through all these painful surgeries one after another one."
Further complicating matters, Bhuiyan's family was still living in his native Bangladesh. When told what had happened, the family faced another kind of unexpected tragedy.
"My dad suffered a stroke when he heard the news that his son was shot in the face," Bhuiyan says. "My entire family — it was another trauma for them.
"They were out of food, they were out of sleep. They couldn't even do anything for at least three to four days, because they had no news from my side: ... What I was going through? Am I still alive? It was another disaster."
Despite the difficulties, Bhuiyan looked to his faith in order to find forgiveness.
"According to my faith in Islam, there is no hate, no killing. It doesn't allow anything like that," says Bhuiyan. "Yes, Mark Stroman did a horrible thing, and he brought a lot of pain and disaster, sufferings in my life. But in return I never hated him."
Bhuiyan has created a website called World Without Hate to educate others about hate crimes as a means of preventing them. He's also working with Amnesty International and Stroman's defense attorney, who has filed several appeals on Stroman's death sentence.
"I strongly believe executing him is not a solution. We will just simply lose a human life without dealing with the root cause, which is hate crime," Bhuiyan says. "In Islam it says that saving one human life is the same as saving the entire mankind. Since I forgave him, all those principles encouraged me to go even further, and stop his execution and save another human life."
SkepticalDragon- Lab Member
- Posts : 62
Join date : 2013-01-22
Age : 36
Location : Earth
Re: 9/11 Hate-Crime Victim Seeks To Save His Attacker
Man, that guy is amazing. To be able to forgive someone after all that, and even fight on his behalf? I defiantly wouldn't be able to do it.
Severus- White Hat
- Posts : 270
Join date : 2013-01-17
Location : USA
Re: 9/11 Hate-Crime Victim Seeks To Save His Attacker
This guy sends the complete opposite message of what the Islamic faith is than the 9/11 terrorists. Kudos to him, for going beyond whats right.
Belsfir- Bronze Saint
- Posts : 138
Join date : 2013-01-17
Age : 29
Location : Somewhere
Re: 9/11 Hate-Crime Victim Seeks To Save His Attacker
Now there is a man we should all look up to. To go through everything he has and still be able to forgive is just amazing. If only more people were like him this world would be a better place.
BK-201- Shinigami
- Posts : 247
Join date : 2013-01-17
Age : 36
Location : UK
Re: 9/11 Hate-Crime Victim Seeks To Save His Attacker
a world without hate, a topic targeted by many anime, yes, a good man
DemonEyesJoe- Vasto Lorde
- Posts : 997
Join date : 2013-01-19
Re: 9/11 Hate-Crime Victim Seeks To Save His Attacker
It takes a lot of courage to do something like that. After the 9/11 attack everyone was Islam or Middle Eastern decent was suspected of being a terrorist.
plantkingman- Bronze Saint
- Posts : 165
Join date : 2013-01-30
Age : 40
Location : Orange Park, FL
Re: 9/11 Hate-Crime Victim Seeks To Save His Attacker
This is more then just faith. This is the ultimate mercy from a human being that has gone through so much. I would not have blamed him for being a little "bitter", but he has the vision to see through the hate and has a very wonderful view of the world.
I wish there was more people like this throughout the world.
I wish there was more people like this throughout the world.
Doomguy- Vasto Lorde
- Posts : 492
Join date : 2013-01-18
Age : 34
Location : High security asylum room in JD
A little update that is outdated
An apology and correction is warranted from me. Apparently the article I shared with you was not current! Generally when NPR or other news source refers a story on their main page IT IS CURRENT... not in this case... I should of been more skeptical and critical before posting, but I learned of this when was a little curious how the appeal had gone and I learned this this execution took place in 2011... which was expected to happen anyways despite legal appeals to the contrary.
Besides the central story was that of Rais Bhuiyan's extraordinary compassion to someone who had violently transgressed him in a horrendous way... not if the violent offender would be executed or not. The executed man apparently had repentance and remorse when he learned of Rais Bhuiyan's appeals, apparently they even spoke before his execution where Rais Bhuiyan told him: "I forgive you and I do not hate you..."
Besides the central story was that of Rais Bhuiyan's extraordinary compassion to someone who had violently transgressed him in a horrendous way... not if the violent offender would be executed or not. The executed man apparently had repentance and remorse when he learned of Rais Bhuiyan's appeals, apparently they even spoke before his execution where Rais Bhuiyan told him: "I forgive you and I do not hate you..."
SkepticalDragon- Lab Member
- Posts : 62
Join date : 2013-01-22
Age : 36
Location : Earth
Re: 9/11 Hate-Crime Victim Seeks To Save His Attacker
No matter how old a story, it is still an amazing one.
Colme- Bronze Saint
- Posts : 216
Join date : 2013-01-20
Age : 29
Location : Ottawa
Page 1 of 1
Permissions in this forum:
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
|
|