Download Taken on Trust ePub

I was dubious about this book before I read it as I was afraid it would be too depressing. It wasn't! I really enjoyed it. It was truly inspirational how Terry Waite discovered in the bleakest of prisons meaning and purpose. I thoroughly enjoyed the style of the writing where the author moves from his time in captivity to his past and back again. The memory of this book will stay with me for a long time.

Hardcover book like new. Price very reasonable. Very satisfied. Also arrived on time.

I met Terry on a cruise and fell in love with his honesty, integrity and steadfastness. His book reflects his personal character traits.

This is a personal ordeal worth reading.

We have seen how many `hostages' looked pale and washed out as they had been released from captivity.

Their predicament was equal to that of the Lebanese people. It was indeed a mirror image.

The storm broke in Lebanon, and in Beirut in particular on 13 April 1975, ever since we heard the boom of artillery fires in short days and long nights.

Foreign factions were `simply' fighting each other; directly or by proxy, on our land. The land that had once been a quiet haven in a turbulent Middle East.

The guns of the warring factions changed the face of Lebanon in the hope that one day it would also change the face of the Middle East.

Unknown names of dead bodies leapt up into the Newspapers headlines every morning.

Against us was ranged the perpetual argument propagated by the international press, to add insult to our injuries, that the war was `a fight between Christians and Muslims Lebanese'. This was phoney-baloney and utterly fraudulent. This was offensive, pretending ignorance with nefarious ends. Very few told the world the significant fact that this was a war by proxy. All Lebanese have always been peace-loving people.

With the closure of Beirut's only Airport, many Lebanese, seeking emigration, were virtually driven into the Mediterranean.

Most of the rich had already left.

Hundreds of thousands of my people were displaced from their villages and rolled out heading for more relatively peaceful places.

Lebanese could not understand where the enemy was hiding and fighting.

They all believed though that Lebanon will remain invincible and in the end its banner will be held up high enough to be seen in each corner of this small and beautiful country.

Many young and innocent `boys and girls', some in their teens, had rallied `to the cause' as they saw it.

I witnessed the melting away of Beirut (West) in the hellish days of the summer of 1982, and each 24 hours I though that would probably be the last for me. I managed to send my wife and my three children to the mountain for their security and stay put in Beirut to work for living.

My people were striving to wait in queues to fetch bread, vegetables and water to feed their children. Some even killed by stray bullets, and worse still, many perished by bombs (RPG, B7 or whatever).

Lines of cars were threatened waiting to be filled with petrol.

We saw different militias from all walks of life. From the East and the West, bordering the Arabian Sea, the Red sea, the Bay of Bengal, and the hinterland of Asia - paid to `fight', they didn't even know who the enemy was?. I saw many of them, and I swear to God they couldn't have possibly been Lebanese.

Beirut slept and woke up on the brink of panic but the brave majority never lost faith; they were convinced that our setback was temporary.

We saw how `international politics' were beginning to bolt, without proper explanation we were left alone to suffer, and it was not difficult for us to draw conclusions - we must have been stupid to `welcome every body to our country with open arms and our hearty - and innocent - "ahlan wasahlan" : Welcome.

Mr Waite:

You were held `hostage' perhaps in a cell like 10x10 feet. The Lebanese, too, were held hostages in our four thousand square miles, for as long as 17 years.

You did not deserve this terrific ordeal, nor did the Lebanese people.

You were held hostage in Lebanon, but not by Lebanese. No Lebanese wanted you to share our fate.

Nevertheless, on behalf of my people I offer our sincere sympathies and my apologies.

Thank you for your thoughtfulness

I picked this up at the library because i remember very clearly when Waite was captured and held hostage. What a story. I found myself moved almost to tears by the end, as i thought of Waite and the three other hostages he ended up with, not to mention the many others who were held in Lebanon during the same time. Parenthetically, i do not know what it is that causes me to cry nowadays; is it a function of age? of some increased sensibilities? of a new maturity? Whatever the cause, i now find tears coming to me more and more frequently as i read or see a movie or, even, just think. End diversion. As i read i did wish that the tale was a little less disjointed. I know why it is, and i accept the reasoning behind it; i simply feel that the story was more confusing than it need be. Perhaps if the present (being held in Beirut) had been in a different type-face...? I don't know. Nevertheless, the literary merit of the book is hardly the purpose for reading it. As the story of a man held for almost five years, four of them, i think, alone, this is remarkable. Not once do you get the feeling that Waite is whining (and why shouldn't he? When he first saw his son again after the captivity he saw "a young man I assumed was Mark"), as was the case of the other book i read from the same experience (was it Terry Anderson? i don't remember). One is filled with respect for Waite and the forbearance he shows his captors; i want to reach out and slap them silly, ask them how they could treat a human being in such a way. But he forgives them. How many men could do that? Apparently this servant of God and the Church is one.

Terry Waite's biography demonstrates the sheer strength of the human spirit and provides an uplifting account of his survival through years of hardship. Few could have survived such an ordeal without losing hope and it offers some remarkable insights into the man's strength of character. Surprisingly, the section on his years in confinement is not all doom and gloom. Some of the tales of pranks that he used to play on his captors had me in stitches of laughter. You can just imagine his cheeky grin when the bucket of waste fell off the door and onto the poor guard's head! All in all, a truly inspiring read and a fine tribute to a great man.

I read this book many years ago. The other customer reviews give more details than I can. All I can say is that it moved me beyond belief, and there is one detail that stayed with me, a Christian, for all these
years--the day the author set aside a bit of bread from his meager supper, placing it carefully on a page in the book he is reading,for his Holy Communion later. He is a true inspiration.