OPINION: Celebrating a faraway hero this Christmas season

It again feels like we have little to celebrate at Christmas. We are seeing a complete disregard for the groundbreaking human rights documents of the late 1940s that were meant to enshrine protection and goodwill to all in the wake of the Second World War and the Holocaust. As we watch indiscriminate American government aggression in the Western Hemisphere, the modern-day baby Jesus dying of hypothermia in Gaza, and a genocidal war raging in Sudan, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the UN Genocide Convention, and the revised Geneva Conventions do not seem to be worth the paper they were written on.

One person, however, has given us a sign of hope. Perhaps he is the one we need to focus on this Christmas season, and perhaps he can inspire us all to do better in the new year.

While a clearly antisemitic attack with reported links to the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) was taking place on a popular beach in Sydney, Australia, one man risked his own life to save others. On December 14, the Jewish community was celebrating Hanukkah on Bondi Beach when two men opened fire on them, killing 15 people, including one child and a Holocaust survivor. The death toll could have been much higher, if not for the courage of Ahmed al-Ahmed.

It appears that al-Ahmed was having a meal in the area when he noticed one of the attackers. He snuck up on him, wrestled him to the ground, and took his rifle from him. In the process, he was shot several times and has had to undergo surgery.

Al-Ahmed is a 43-year-old shop owner and a father of two. He is Muslim, he immigrated to Australia from Syria in 2006 and has since become an Australian citizen. His parents, who recently arrived in Australia, gave us an idea as to what may have inspired their son’s amazing act of bravery. His father said, “My son is a hero. He served with the police and in the central security forces (in Syria), and he has the impulse to protect people…. When he did that, he wasn’t thinking of the background of the people he was saving. My son is an Australian citizen. He defended the innocent people.” His mother said, “My son has always been brave. He helps people. He’s like that.”

Al-Ahmed is indeed a hero, but like all real-life heroes, he embodies qualities that the rest of us can emulate. He is the personification of the paladin in the celebrated Christian parable of the Good Samaritan.

According to psychiatrist, author and Holocaust survivor Viktor Frankl, “There are two races of men in the world, but only these two – the ‘race’ of decent man and the ‘race’ of the indecent man. Both are found everywhere; they penetrate into all groups of society.”

Few would argue that an indecent person inflicts suffering on innocent people. They are responsible for the shootings at Bondi Beach and the other atrocities I’ve mentioned. Decent people are like Ahmed Al-Ahmed and all those who put their own safety, reputation, or livelihood on the line to stand up for those who suffer or who are in danger. They choose compassion and kindness over convenience, regardless of the arbitrary distinctions we tend to make between groups of people. They honour, embrace and exemplify international humanitarian law.

Ahmed al-Ahmed is a light in the darkness as we pass through yet another tragic Christmas season. More than this, however, he is a model of the decent human being.

As we prepare our resolutions for the New Year, perhaps the goal should not be to lose a certain amount of weight or stop eating unhealthy food, perhaps it should be to become the type of person the world so desperately needs at this moment, a brave person without prejudice who simply helps people.