IN REMEMBRANCE 🙏🌹💐



G. S. STAINES
(18 Jan 1941 - 23 Jan 1999)

How would one remember Graham Stuart Staines, the Australian missionary who had dedicated his life for the upliftment of the leprosy afflicted in India's Odisha's Mayurbhanj district's town of Baripada? I would say through Mrs. Gladys Staines...

An unpardonable homicide took place in the wee hours of January 23, 1999, when Graham and his two sons, Philip and Timothy, were set ablaze whilst asleep inside their station wagon...

While the perpetrators were duly caught, and convicted in 2003 with the main accused handed a life sentence, accomplices served long terms in prison, one of them being set free last year...

Graham, who began his services from 1965, was joined by Gladys in 1981. The duo, tying the nuptials in 1983, made India their home to raise a family of five till the "mob" in a flash, 27 years ago, reduced it to two - Gladys and daughter Esther...

Amidst such unimaginable tragic devastation and grief, Gladys chose the path of forgiveness, mercy and love to continue Graham's noble work till 2004, leaving Indian shores after building a 15 bedded Graham Staines Memorial Hospital. No hatred, no vengeance, Gladys was conferred the Padma Shri in 2005. Her exemplary acts of forgiveness and sincerity of purpose, with probably no parallel, underlines the power of her fortitude. Honestly, if forgiveness was to be personified, Gladys would top my list, she belonging to a very high pedestal up there in comparison...

To err is human. We commit mistakes day in and day out, don't we? And yet we continue to love ourselves to no end, isn't it? Then how is it justifiable to hate others for their mistakes? Forgiveness, therefore, is the biggest gift of life, the essence of moving on in life, peace ensuing...

Gladys's service instils hope in us that religious hatred does not take anyone too far. The world needs many more of such angelic people for the blossoming of love everywhere, for spreading peace and harmony...

Graham's legacy continues to inspire countless individuals and organizations working towards the betterment of humanity. Mankind ought to be grateful to have had such people walk this way...

A manifestation of senseless vengeance, the memories of which shall continue to haunt the conscience of the righteous till eternity. The incident of that ill-fated night indelibly blotted the copybook of a secular and peace loving nation, serving as a testimony to the consequences of unbridled hate and intolerance...

🙏🙏

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