This story doesn't strictly speaking 'qualify' as an 'act of kindness done to enemies' but as the current conflict is providing scant opportunity to record such acts of kindness, I am extending the scope of this blog to acknowledge an extraordinary, experienced trauma surgeon, John P. Pryor, of Philadelphia, who was killed in Iraq this Christmas.
I came across his story on the Tanker Brothers blog, and subsequently read more on sources linked to it. This surgeon was motivated by compassion to apply his medical skills in the service of those victims of war whom the public, and particularly those who oppose war, often overlook: the combatants.
According to a report which Tanker Brothers quote, these words of Albert Schweitzer reflect what John Pryor stood for. "Seek always to do some good, somewhere. Even if it's a little thing, do something for those who need help, something for which you get no pay but the privilege of doing it. For remember, you don't live in a world all your own. Your brothers are here, too."
This conviction led John Pryor to Iraq, a decision which, according to the report, "was not always supported by those closest to him".
Spare a thought for a man who laid down his life for his brothers. And for those closest to him in their great loss.
