Holding them in the light

Anas Al-Tikriti is guardedly optimistic. He is the Canadian Muslim who went to Iraq to mediate on behalf of the Christian Peacemaker Team members. He takes the captors' recent silence as a non-ominous sign, at least. By 'silence', he meant the complete cutting of communications that might be a prelude to release. But I was reminded of the kind of silence that Friends appreciate, and of Catharine Fox's wrenching appeal for her father on Democracy Now yesterday:

Above all else, my father is a listener, even when no one is speaking. He values the honesty of silence, and when he speaks, there is a respect and kindness in his voice and a strength that stands in quiet testimony to the life he has chosen to lead.