April 21, 2009
Posted by Claire
Blessed are the peacemakers indeed, but they won’t get the Nobel!
In 2007 two of the nominees for the Nobel Peace Prize were Al Gore and a lovely little wisp of a lady named Irena Sendler.
Irena Sendler is credited with saving 2,500 Jewish children from the Warsaw Ghetto. She smuggled them out by various means, provided them with fake documents and then placed them with families who lived outside of the ghetto. In the video it is recounted that she was cared for by a nurse in the nursing home she resided in later in life, who she had saved from the ghetto. The nurse was only 6-months old when Sendler rescued her.
In the video below and from what I have read, this woman smuggled children in burlap bags and even smuggled little tiny ones out in a tool box she carried. She taught her dog to bark a lot when the gestapo was around so they would not hear the children crying.
This means that Sendler had smuggled 2,500 children out right under the Gestapo’s nose and probably smuggle the majority of them singly. Sendler also took care to very carefully record each child’s original name and identity cross referenced with their new name so that the child would not lose his/her heritage. She buried the names in a jar in her back yard.
Irena was captured by the Nazis and brutally tortured before escaping.
On April 19, 2009 Hallmark did movie about her life called ”The Courageous Heart of Irena Sendler.” I don’t have that channel since I refuse to pay for the smut passed off as entertainment these days. I would have paid to see that movie though. I will have to see if I can find it online.
Although Sendler did not live to see the movie done in her tribute, I don’t think she would have been impressed. She is quoted as saying “Every child saved with my help is the justification of my existence on this Earth, and not a title to glory” —Letter to Polish Parliament (found HERE) Her ministry was complete. She was used in a very incredible way at a time when desperate mothers were praying for a way to save their children.
This story caught my attention for the obvious reason — the woman was a magnificent tool of peace and beauty. She risked her own life, day after day after day, and she carried 2,500 children to safety with her own two hands. She had assistance from the underground, but she was the connection inside the Warsaw Ghetto.
She is, no doubt, a woman who knew what loving others is about. Irena was also a Polish Social Worker. This, good folks, is what real Social Workers are made of — the more modern, entitlement obsessed group is not what this profession was ever meant to be. Maybe one day we will see a revolution in the profession. I know myself and many other social workers hope so.
Irena died on May 12, 2008, at the age of 98.
Now, here’s the punch line to this story.
In 2007, Al Gore won the Nobel Peace Prize for the propaganda movie about a slide show called “An inconvenient truth.” Isn’t it ironic that a woman who lived through a more than “inconvenient” reality, who put her life on the line for the oppressed, who suffered brutal torture for her work in saving children, and who loved those children so much she preserved their identities, had lost to a man who is pushing a movie, based on a slide-show about a movement based on pseudo-science and politics?
I have not followed or cared for the Nobel prizes since Arafat won many years ago, and then Carter a few years back was a laugh. The 2007 decision, however, is just despicable. This is a sure sign that the Peace Prize is not a prize for true peacemakers, but rather it has become a politically motivated and driven tool for activists who are obviously not enchanted with the saints who walk this earth.
For that reason, it’s become irrelevant – like Al Gore.
“If you want peace, work for justice.” — Pope Paul VI
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OVw1PANUcdg
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jZSu00RN2wk
Snopes Article on Irena
10 Comments
April 21, 2009
Hooah! Great article! Fortunately my God is bigger than Al Gore’s god. Obviously Irena’s is too.
April 21, 2009
“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God” (Matthew 5:9)
Her real inheritance is richer, kingly, and far above anything this world has to offer — especially man made awards! I know she probably did not think twice about the Nobel, but I thought it would be good to point out the inconsistencies in the awarding process.
April 21, 2009
LOVE this post–she is what is called a righteous Gentile I believe. God bless her memory!
I am totally and 100% behind Damon & your comments and this post!! We do have Hallmark–at least right now–I will have to see if I can find this movie. (BTW–when I was younger I met Corrie ten Boom, another woman who chose to live out her Christianity and do the right thing no matter the personal cost. Oh–if I could be more like them)
Blessings,
Aimee
April 21, 2009
Oh Aimee!! Wow!! I absolutely adore Corrie ten Boom. I have read the books In My Father’s House, Tramp for the Lord and Hiding Place. I have also read a lot of her devotional books. She was such a beautiful example of God’s grace and goodness in action. I am so excited that you got to meet her!
April 21, 2009
Just to set things straight–I should have said I heard her speak, not an actual person to person meeting. Sorry about that! She came to the college I was attending for a chapel and spoke to the whole student body. And—I have always admired her too!
Now I did get to hear Elizabeth Eliot and meet her (as in shake her hand and greet her). That was a great privilege too:)
II feel so blessed!
April 21, 2009
Well, just hearing her talk live would be awesome! I love Elliot too! She’s amazing and very wise.
April 21, 2009
It was and they both were!! I was at a camp where Elizabeth Eliot was the main speaker–there was NO way I was going to miss her talk!
April 24, 2009
I remember reading – and writing about – her last year. I just LOVE her face. Such gooodness radiates from her.
Thanks for the reminder that there IS goodness in this world.
May 18, 2009
The movie was well worth watching, though quite sanitized…
It was on CBS as part of the Hallmark Hall of Fame – so that means they will release the movie soon…
Her story is so remarkable!
Al -who?
May 19, 2009
Brat, I believe that righteous living does a lot for a woman as she ages… most Godly women I know have soft and radiant faces.
Al who!? Indeed! hahaha!! I love that, and being a Tennessean makes it a little more funny!
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