Wilfred Owen wrote a poem just months before he died in WW1. In it, He describes the horrors of war and refers to the old Latin saying, “Dulce Et Decorum Est Pro Patria Mori” as an old lie. It means “how beautiful and becoming it is to die for one’s country.” There’s nothing beautiful or becoming about death in war. Unfortunately, there are times when war is necessary. The description of war and its corrupting influence is described in detail in Numbers chapter 31. It defiled everything. War is never a pretty thing, but there are times when one must take a stand against the spread of evil in the land. I received this email this week about a heroine who took a stand during the World War II that I thought would be worth sharing.
There recently was the death of a 98 year old lady named Irena Sendler. During WWII, Irena got
permission to work in the Warsaw ghetto, as a plumbing/sewer specialist. She had an ulterior motive…she knew what the Nazi’s plans were for the Jews, (being German). Irena smuggled infants out in the bottom of her tool box she carried, and she also carried in the back of her truck a Burlap sack, (for larger kids). She also had a dog in the back that she trained to bark when the Nazi soldiers let her in and out of the ghetto. The soldiers, of course, wanted nothing to do with the dog, and the barking covered the kids and infants noises. During her time and course of doing this, she managed to smuggle out and save 2500 kids and infants. She was caught, and the Nazi’s broke both her legs and arms and beat her severely. Irena kept a record of the names of all the kids she smuggled out and kept them in a glass jar, buried under a tree in her back yard. After the war she tried to locate any parents that may have survived and reunite the families. Most had been gassed. Those kids she helped were placed into foster family homes or adopted.
Last year Irena was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize….she lost. Al Gore won for doing a slide show on Global Warming.